


And It Begins Again

by mizzkatie101



Category: Saw (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mentions Of Past Characters, Swearing, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-01-23 21:35:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 56,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12517072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizzkatie101/pseuds/mizzkatie101
Summary: This is after the events of Saw VII. I changed some things, because the ending was kind of open-ended. I decided to add a new accomplice, whose name is Adelaide. Also, a major character who died turns out to not actually be dead, because I really loved him and he didn't deserve to die.





	1. The Bathroom Trap: Adam

He didn’t know how good she was going to be at this. To be honest, he was genuinely surprised. The last woman he had worked with had shown too much emotion, and she showed just enough. This girl, she was everything he had been looking for over the past few years. There was a fire inside her, a passion to create something that would weaken even the strongest of people. And she was his to mold, shape into the person he wanted. She wasn’t easily persuaded, but she could be talked into doing almost anything if she felt like it was a good idea. And normally, she considered every idea a good one, so there was nothing for him to worry about. That’s what he thought, anyway.

When Lawrence arrived at the old abandoned building the following morning, Adelaide was already sitting on one of the stools, waiting for him. When the young girl, early twenties, looked up at the middle-aged man, he saw a spark in her eyes, indicating she was ready for whatever he was going to throw at her. This was good. It was great. This was a good quality to have, he knew. She was determined, and ready for just about everything without having to worry about it. He was glad to have finally found her.

“Adelaide,” Lawrence said as he sat across from her, picking up the coffee cup she indicated was his. “You’re here early.” He took a sip of the hot coffee, tasting the familiar vanilla creamer that was his favorite. She was good at remembering details. Another good quality to have.

“I wanted to get here before you,” she replied, drinking some of her own coffee. Dark red lipstick prints were left on the edge of the lid. “I have a surprise for you.”  
“A surprise?” He questioned this. Why would Adelaide have a surprise for him? They hadn’t been doing this work together for a long time, but she already seemed to be getting ahead of him. He wasn’t used to surprises. Nobody he worked with before ever gave him surprises.

“Yes, Lawrence. A surprise. Come along.”

Adelaide and Lawrence walked next to one another down the dimly lit hallways to the room he recognized as the place where his life had both ended and truly began. The cane resting in his fist, helping him walk, clicked on the concrete floor as he stood in front of the large sliding doors, making more memories of that day flood into his thoughts. The stump of his leg, where his foot had been amputated, began to tingle. Even more memories came.

“What type of surprise is this?” Lawrence questioned skeptically. “I’ve already been here before, Adelaide. I’ve been here many times before. You know that.”

“I know, Lawrence,” she replied as she reached for the door handle. “The surprise is on the inside.”

And with that, she pulled the large metal door open, revealing a pitch black room, the way it always was. The smell of rotten flesh, old blood, and filth filled Lawrence’s senses, something he never wanted to smell again, but did multiple times over the years. The darkness almost swallowed him up, but then Adelaide turned the light on.

Slowly, the room began to brighten up, light after light flickering to life. Lawrence stood just outside the door, not wanting to be back in this place, not yet, the place that had tortured him so many times, brought so many negative memories. The hours here had taken control of his nightmares, making him wake up in a cold sweat. Sometimes he was on the verge of tears, while others he was whispering, mostly screaming, the name Adam. He didn’t want to think that name ever again.

Lawrence didn’t understand the surprise that Adelaide was trying to show him. Why would she bring him back to this place? He acted like he had moved on from this starkly lit bathroom, but he knew, deep down, he hadn’t. He was still stuck in there, shackled to the pipes across from the younger man who always appeared in his dreams, the name he tried not to think or dream about. He would never forget that man. There was no way he ever could. Not with the nightmares.

When he looked at the bathroom, Lawrence saw the dismembered foot lying on the white bathroom tiles, almost decayed all the way, just exposed bones. It was his. Next, when he began to look around the room, he saw the pool of dried blood in the center, remembering that man, the one who became his mentor, laid, waiting for them to complete their tasks he had set up for them. Lawrence’s eyes traveled to the man, a drug dealer, lying a little more than halfway across the room, his throat slit from the same saw that had cut Lawrence’s foot off. Next was Zep, the man who worked at the same hospital as himself, head bashed in.

Everything seemed just about the same. He didn’t want to look in the corner and see the man who haunted his dreams. Not just yet. But something was different, though. There was an old television set sitting on a little stand on the floor in the opposite corner from where Lawrence had been locked up. It was off, but he knew it could come on at any given time.

What Lawrence expected to see next, the thing he didn’t want to see the most, was the decayed body of his former cellmate, Adam. But when he looked up all the way, he found that he wasn’t some rotting skeleton. But that’s not what he found. Lawrence found a man, one who looked just like Adam, laying unconscious on the floor, a shackle around his ankle. He looked just like Adam, but a few years older.  
But that couldn’t be. Adam was dead. Lawrence knew he was dead.

“What is this?” Lawrence demanded slowly, narrowing his eyes at Adelaide. She had been smiling, but it began to fade.

“I thought you would be happy with this,” she answered innocently. Lawrence waited for more, but nothing came.

“You found somebody who looked just like him? And you brought him here?”

Adelaide looked back at Lawrence with the same narrowed eyes. All look of satisfaction was gone from her features. “Found somebody that looked like him? No, Lawrence. That is Adam.”

No. It was not. It couldn’t possibly be Adam. He was gone. He was dead. Lawrence knew this.

Lawrence stared at her in disbelief for a moment. How could this be? Adam had died. The skeleton sitting leaning against the wall, which was actually gone now, Lawrence noticed, had been his. “What are you talking about, Adelaide? Adam is dead.”

It was still hard for Lawrence to believe that he was dead, but he knew he was. Adam hadn’t been a great person, but neither had he. The thing was, Adam hadn’t deserved to die, and definitely not the way he did here. Starving to death. Or dying of thirst. Possibly both. Or maybe the bullet wound Lawrence himself had given the younger man. But he knew he was dead. There was no other explanation. So Adelaide better tell him why she had a man she was claiming to be Adam.

“No, he’s not, Lawrence,” Adelaide countered, agitation rising in her voice. Lawrence stared at her, also beginning to get angry. “He, I found out that he was alive. After you decided to let Hoffman live, he told me that John had made him take Adam out of here and replace him with somebody else that looked like him. After hearing this, I looked him up and found out where he was living. I thought you would like to see him back here again. When you talked about him before, it seemed like you didn’t care whether or not he was dead or alive.”

“You don’t know the way I feel about him, Adelaide,” Lawrence snapped back. “I didn’t want him to die. He thought I was coming back for him. And if he found out that I started helping the man who had put us here, I know he wouldn’t take it well. Amanda killed him. I watched her do it on the camera.”

“It wasn’t him, Lawrence. I asked Hoffman about it, and apparently they had already replaced Adam with the guy who looked like him.” She still looked annoyed, but there was something else there, something else Lawrence wasn’t sure just yet. “And I didn’t know you cared so much for him.” The last part, Adelaide had hesitated on saying.

“Obviously he cared for him,” Mark, the aforementioned Hoffman, spoke from the entrance of the bathroom. Lawrence turned to look at the man with the long scar across his face, from the corner of his mouth to his right ear. “He tried to just help John with the Jigsaw stuff so he could get him out of here. Isn’t that right, Larry?”

When Lawrence didn’t respond, Adelaide looked up to her mentor. “Is that true?” she asked in shock. “Did you actually just help to get him out? I thought you believed in his cause more than anybody else.”

“I told him I wouldn't leave him here,” Lawrence said after a moment. “I told him I would bring somebody back to save him.” He didn’t really answer her question. He didn’t have to answer her questions. He was the one in charge, not her.

“In a way,” Hoffman said, crossing the bathroom, “you did. I brought him out of here. He was living up in Boston for the past few years. But I guess Adelaide decided she would put him back in the trap that almost killed him.”

“So you think that putting him back in the same trap is a good idea?” Lawrence questioned the younger woman. She looked up at him from where she was standing a few feet away. “To repeat a trap? That’s not the creativity that John envisioned for this. It’s not what I envisioned for this.”

“Are you sure you envisioned anything for this?” she asked, moving over to where Lawrence stood, being about half a foot shorter. Her dark green eyes glared up at   
Lawrence. “Are you sure you care about his vision? Because it doesn’t seem like you want to do what he was willing to do to teach people lessons about their life.”

“I’ve been apart of this for far longer than you have, Adelaide. I know what needs to be done. But this, this isn’t something that needs to be done. This is something that has already happened, and it can’t be repeated.”

Adelaide scoffed at Lawrence’s retort. “Hoffman said you were in here with him for six hours. Did you honestly fall in love with a man half your age in just six hours?”

Instead of responding to her, Lawrence looked at Hoffman who was standing in silence, listening to the two of them argue. But this was how he had always been. He always sat back and let others talk about all of the trials they had put others into, and had been put into themselves. Nobody walked away from here without being tested, not any of them.

“Why did he want you to take him out of here?” Lawrence demanded toward Hoffman instead of answering Adelaide’s question. He looked up to face Lawrence, and then smirked, the scar on his face making him look even more maniacal.

“He knew why you were actually helping him,” Hoffman responded. “And because he thought you were a good asset to this, so he decided to let Adam live. Of course, he couldn’t tell anybody who he was, where he had come from, or what he had been through. Little Adam couldn’t tell you that he was alive. That was part of the reason John never told you. He didn’t want you to know he was alive because you would run off after your little friend.”

Of course. Lawrence understood it now. John kept Adam’s life a secret from him to make him continue helping with his work. John had known he would go to find Adam, because he felt a connection with him. He had deceived Lawrence, and Lawrence continued helping nonetheless. He had been a good asset, a great asset, even, and Lawrence knew this. It still angered him that John wouldn’t tell him that he let Adam live, but he understood.  
The only thing that didn’t make sense, not really, was that John always said failed test subjects weren’t allowed to leave. Why had he let him leave then? He should have let him die, regardless of Lawrence’s existence in all of this.

When Lawrence was about to voice his opinion on the matter, they heard movement. A chain rattled. The three accomplices turned to look at the man who was lying, shackled to a pipe. The chain rattled slightly once more, and his eyes, Adam’s eyes, shot open at the sound. He instantly sat up, reaching to touch the chains.

“No,” he whispered. Then his voice increased in volume. “No. No. No! Not again! I was gone! I was out! I never said anything! I was finally free of this fucking place.” He tried pulling at the chain wrapped around his ankle, but of course, it didn’t do him any good, and Adam knew this. After all, he had been here before. He let the chain fall to the floor and closed his eyes. “I was finally free.”

Adam was broken. It was obvious. But he was truly Adam, he saw. Lawrence couldn’t believe this. Why would they do this? Why would Hoffman, John, even Adelaide do this to him again? Adam didn’t deserve it. He had gotten away from all this, something Lawrence wanted so bad for the younger man. Adam was alive, but back in the place he was supposed to die. It was fair. It wasn’t right.

Lawrence was deep in thought, full of guilt, for Adam. He didn't deserve to be here again. But that’s when the television screen cut on and the Jigsaw puppet turned to look at the screen, interrupting his thoughts. Adam still hadn’t noticed the two men and woman standing behind him. He turned to look at the screen instead. It was slow, and it was obvious he was nervous.

“Rise and shine, Adam,” the recording began. The color drained from his young face. It was the exact same opening to the previous tape. “You’re probably wondering where you are. I’ll tell you where you might be. You might be in the room you die in. Up until now, you simply sat in the shadows, watching others live out their lives. But what do voyeurs see when they look into the mirror? Now, I see you as a strange mix of someone angry, yet apathetic. But mostly just pathetic. So are you going to watch yourself die today, Adam, or do something about it?”

It was the same tape that had played for him before, word for word, when he and Lawrence had first been locked into the filthy bathroom a few years prior to this moment. Instead of cutting of, the screen flickered and went to an old recording, something Lawrence didn’t want to relive.

The screen was grainy, but it was obvious who was on the screen if the viewer knew what had happened previously in this hellhole.  
“You’re too late,” Zep, the hospital orderly, said, pointing the gun at Lawrence.

“Why?” Lawrence questioned. He was dirty, bloody, lying on the bathroom floor after just cutting his foot off with a saw. Lawrence hated this. He didn't want to relive this. He never wanted to see these memories again. He hadn’t known there was even a video of the events that happened here. Sure, Lawrence knew they had been recorded, but he hadn’t known it was kept.

“It’s the rules.” Lawrence raised his hands slightly on the screen, trying to change Zep’s mind on killing him, even after he had missed the allotted amount of time, and trying to shoot Zep himself after he grabbed the gun he had shot Adam with moments earlier. Zep crossed the room, kicking at Adam’s motionless body, seeing if he was actually dead or alive. After being satisfied that he was dead, Zep turned the gun back toward Lawrence.

That’s when Adam, who had previously been shot by Lawrence and was lying face down on the cold, dirty white tiled floor, stopped pretending to be dead, and grabbed Zep’s leg, trying to save Lawrence from being shot. Zep ended up falling, and Adam dragged him back over to where he was still shackled, bleeding from the bullet that was lodged in his shoulder after Lawrence thought Zep had killed his wife and daughter, which, apparently, turned out to be false.

Zep and Adam struggled with the gun, both of them were dying. It turned out that Zep had been poisoned and was going to die without the antidote. Lawrence hadn’t known this at the time, but found out at a later date. And Adam was going to bleed to death. Or if not bleed to death, slowly die from sepsis, a deadly infection from untreated wounds. Either way, they were both dying.

The gun went off once, twice, then was thrown to the side. Adam was still on top of Zep, and ended up punching him in the face to try to stop him from killing both Adam and Lawrence. That’s when Adam reached over to pick up the back of the toilet and bashed Zep’s head in. Lawrence almost flinched at seeing the memory he tried so hard to forget. Adam hit him seven times before Lawrence had gotten over to him by crawling to stop him. 

But it was done. Zep was dead and Adam had killed him. And Lawrence was down one foot. They were sitting together, Lawrence and Adam, their foreheads touching, covered in blood, from sawing a foot off, getting shot, and bashing somebody else’s head in.

“You’re going to be alright,” Lawrence said as Adam grabbed the shoulder he had been shot in. “You’re just wounded in your shoulder. I have to go and get help.” He remembered saying these words. This was why Lawrence needed to help Adam.

Adam’s fingers wrapped around Lawrence’s shirt as he began to shake his head. “Don’t leave me,” Adam cried, clinging onto Lawrence. “No. No. No!” And then he started crying as Lawrence began to crawl away from the bleeding young man. He was still reaching for him. Lawrence hadn’t known this. “Lawrence! Lawrence!”

That’s when Lawrence stopped, turning to look back at Adam, struggling to keep himself conscious and moving after amputating his own foot to get out of the shackles. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring someone back. I promise.” And he began to crawl once more toward the open door of the bathroom, not wanting to look back.

Adam reached for Lawrence once more, but he was already almost out of the room, not looking back. Lawrence hadn’t known this had happened, not the first time or this time. After this, the screen cut back to black. Adam sat on the floor, staring at the screen in silence. Everybody was silent.

Lawrence hated thinking about their time in this place. He hated knowing that Adam suffered because of him. Lawrence had thought Adam had died hating him, and honestly, Lawrence wouldn't be surprised if Adam did hate him. He hoped that wasn’t true, but he didn’t know. He would understand if he did.

“So, Adam,” Adelaide said, breaking the silence. Adam turned to look at her, but his gaze didn’t stay on her. Next was Hoffman, and finally Lawrence. “Apparently you shouldn't be back here. I didn’t know that Larry here had so many feelings toward you.”

“Lawrence?” Adam said instead of responding to Adelaide. It was like he hadn’t heard what Adelaide said. His attention was completely on him. “He, he let me leave because of you. He said you were going to help him because you thought it would help me. It, it did. He let me leave. Why am I back?” He was rambling. “And why didn’t you come back?” This came out a little quieter, barely above a whisper. It tore into Lawrence’s soul, though. He felt the guilt rising.

“Maybe we should let the boyfriends talk for a minute,” Adelaide said. Hoffman just turned and walked away rather than responding to Adelaide. Before he did this, Lawrence noticed a smirk on his face. Adelaide had a similar look. She didn’t say anything more, though, and just walked away.

“Why didn’t you come back?” Adam asked on the verge of tears. “Why didn’t you leave here? Why, Lawrence? Why am I back here? I’ve been doing good things with my life. I don’t invade others’ lives anymore. I don’t, I’m not a bad person anymore. I, I cherish life now. I, want to live life to the fullest now. I went to school and became a pharmacy tech. I, I don’t understand why I’m back. It doesn’t make sense. Why am I back, Lawrence? Why?”

Adam was trying not to cry, Lawrence could see. He was spilling his emotions out, though, through his words. Lawrence wanted to say something to calm him down, but he wasn’t sure what would work. It seemed like nothing would actually ever calm Adam down. He hadn’t been able to do it before, back when they had first met.

“I don’t know why they brought you back,” Lawrence began slowly. He didn’t want to upset him even more. “I guess Adelaide thought it was what I wanted.”

“You wanted me to come back to this place?!” Now the tears came. Only a few, though, that Adam quickly wiped from his face. He didn’t want to seem weak, but this was the type of place where crying definitely wasn’t seen as weak. It was a human reaction, and something John had wanted everybody to truly recognize. “Why would you want that?”

“No, no, Adam. That’s not what I wanted. I would never want that. I asked her why she would think I would want you to come back here. I wouldn’t ever want to put you through this place again. You got out. You survived. I thought you were dead for so long.”

“Why would she think this is what you wanted, Lawrence? Who even is she? I, why are you still here? I thought he was done. I thought he was dead. I thought this was over. It had stopped for a while. It was done. I was done. I was, I was done.” The last word came with a sob, one that shook his shoulders, which Adam once again tried to hide from Lawrence. He was sitting with his knees up to his chest, barefoot with blue jeans and a white t-shirt on. Just like his outfit the first time he was in this room.

Lawrence crossed the distance between the two slowly, not wanting to make Adam more hysteric, using his cane to help him. He was good at walking with the prosthetic, but it was still a little tiresome to walk without a cane, especially as he began to age more. Adam’s eyes went to the cane. “I know you were done. I wanted you to be done with this place, Adam.” It was hard to speak his name after so long.

“How are you walking? You cut your foot off.”

“It’s a prosthetic foot. He, John, Jigsaw, did it. He helped me with walking again.”

Adam pulled back as Lawrence breached the distance between them. Lawrence stopped walking, staring down at the young man who was curled up in a protective way, still on the floor. “I don’t want to be here, Lawrence. I don’t want anybody to be here. I don’t want you to be here.”

“John left me in charge of his work after he died. He thought he was done when he gave the envelops to Jill and Hoffman, but there was more. And I know you don’t understand all of that, okay? But there’s always more, Adam. His work is never going to be done. People are never going to live their life the way they should. There will always be people who don’t cherish their life. The thing is, I didn’t realize that until recently, not until he was gone.”

“Did he kill your wife and daughter? Are Alison and Diana okay?”

“Yes, they got away. They went to the neighbor’s house.” Lawrence was surprised Adam remembered their names. And that he was asking about them.

He began to nod a little. “Good, good. That’s, that’s really good, Lawrence. Now, why am I back here? Why would they think you would care for me enough to want me back in this hellhole? And why did she say boyfriends?”

“They seem to think there’s some sort of bond between us after the time we spent together in here. I just wanted to get you out of here. I shot you and was worried your wound would get infected and you would die from that.”

“Sepsis.”

“Yes. You know what sepsis is?”

“I told you I became a pharmacy tech. I wanted to help people after all these years of not caring about them. I know about that stuff now. I, why would you feel that way about me, anyway? I don’t get it, Lawrence. Why would she bring me back to this place? Why would she think you would like me being back here? Did she want me to die, or does she want you to like, keep me for yourself? Which one? I don’t, I want to leave, Lawrence. I don’t want to be back here.”

“I know you don’t want to be here, Adam. I get that, alright? I don’t want you to be here, either. And I don’t know which one she wanted. I honestly don’t want to know which one she meant. I thought it was you dying, but now I’m not sure, not after the boyfriend comment. Maybe both? But don’t worry. You shouldn’t be back here. I’ll get you out of here. Don’t worry.”

“Wait. Lawrence. Wait. Don’t leave me. Please, don’t leave me. I don’t want to be here again. Not alone. Not again. Not ever.”

Lawrence stopped walking toward the door and turned to face the man who had begged him not to leave years ago. And here he was, doing it again. He was still sitting with his knees against his chest, watching Lawrence as he walked away. “I’ll be back, Adam.”

“You said that last time. You never came back, Lawrence.” That hurt a little, but it was the truth. “Please don’t leave me in here again. I don’t want to be in here again.”

“I said I would bring somebody back last time. This time, I’ll come back myself, Adam. Don’t worry, okay? You're going to be fine. I’m not going to let you die for a second time in this place.”

“I didn’t die a first time.”

“You did for me.” And with that, Lawrence left the bathroom. To prove to Adam he was going to come back, he left the door open. He heard him saying something as he walked away, but Lawrence didn’t stop to listen or ask him to repeat himself. He couldn’t believe Adam was alive to begin with, but he also couldn’t believe Adelaide would think it was a good idea to bring him back to the place he almost lost his life.

“Why would you bring him back here?” Lawrence demanded of Adelaide when got to where the two other accomplices were sitting, waiting for him to return. She and Hoffman were sitting in front of a monitor, watching Adam. He was sitting in the same position, staring toward the door. He had shifted slightly away from Zep’s and the other man, Xavier’s bodies. He wouldn’t look away from the door. And he was rocking a little.

“He’s annoying as hell,” Hoffman stated, reaching over to pick a coffee cup up. “How can you stand being around that whiny ass kid?”

“He’s not whiny.”

Adelaide turned to look at him. “Are you serious, Lawrence?” she asked incredulously. “He’s been whining since he woke up. He hasn’t stopped since he started talking after the tape played. And you’re just babying him.”

“That’s what he did last time,” Hoffman added. Adelaide nodded a little.

“No, I didn’t,” Lawrence countered, but gave up pretty quickly, because it was true. He wasn’t going to admit it, though. He didn’t have to. “Where are the keys?”

“We can’t let him leave,” Adelaide said. “He needs to complete his test first. We can’t just let them walk away without getting tested. You know that. That’s what we do here.”

“He was already tested. He got out. Give me the key, Adelaide.”

“I feel like he didn’t really get tested,” Hoffman said, swallowing another gulp of coffee. Adelaide shook her head in agreement. “He needs to be tested, the right way, Gordon.   
We won’t leave him in there, but he’s going through a test whether you want him to or not.”

“He’s not going through anything else, Mark. Adelaide, give me the keys.”

“I know you’re not going to be happy with this, Larry,” Adelaide said before she turned, stabbing a needle into Lawrence’s neck. “But it’s time for Adam to go through a real test. Last time, he was just a prop for you. This time, he’s going to go through a real test. He’s going to prove if he’s really worthy of the life he was given. He’s going to have to show he has what it takes after being given a second chance.”

And with the injection completed and the syringe out of his neck, Lawrence began to fade out into blackness. Adam’s life was in danger yet again, and he couldn’t do anything about it. “You better not put him through anything,” was the last words he spoke before passing out.


	2. His First Real Test: Adam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I made the second chapter to my Saw story. This is of Adam's tests that Hoffman and Adelaide put him through. A past character will show up, one from the first movie.

When Lawrence woke up, he found himself strapped to a chair by his ankles and wrists. Well, single ankle, that is. There was something else on him, though. It was the shotgun collar that Amanda Young, another accomplice of Jigsaw’s that was now dead, had made a few years ago. She had placed it on a doctor, Lynn Denlon, who was supposed to keep John alive. It was a contraption that had multiple shotgun bullets pointing toward the head of the wearer, and would go off if John’s heart stopped beating. So it gave initiative to keep him alive for as long as he told her to.

He looked around the room, not wanting to believe these two had actually drugged him and tied him up. He couldn’t believe. He let Hoffman live and allowed Adelaide to help with testing society’s will to live. They were in a new place, somewhere Lawrence wasn’t entirely sure of.  
She was sitting on a stool a few feet from him, her back to Lawrence. When she turned, she smiled a little at him. Now, Lawrence noticed, Adelaide was holding a small remote control. It was probably the thing that controlled the collar now. He sighed heavily, tilting his head a little to the side as he stared at the woman he was mentoring.

“Really, Adelaide,” Lawrence began slowly, “what are you doing? You can’t possibly think this is a good idea. Locking me up? I’m the one who showed you the way. This isn’t a good idea, Adelaide.”

“Of course it’s a good idea, Larry,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “You didn’t want Adam to be put in another trap, and I know you were going to try to stop it from happening. Hence, the shotgun collar. Now, you can’t do that. You’ll just have to let the little thing get through his tests.”

Lawrence fidgeted slightly in the chair. It was an old oak chair. He had never been to this place, but noticed they were in a library, and this was one of the old seats they had in there. It looked like a school’s library. Probably a high school, if Lawrence had to guess.

“He’s waking up,” Hoffman said as he walked over to where the two accomplices were sitting facing one another. He had a laptop in his hands. Hoffman placed the computer down on the table a few feet from where Lawrence was restrained. What he saw made him both angry and sick. And guilty, but that was something he had been feeling for a while now.

Adam was sitting on a chair, still barefoot, but he wasn’t shackled to anything. He wasn’t tied to anything at all, which was a plus. Lawrence didn’t understand what Adelaide and Hoffman had planned for the young man. This didn’t seem like any type of trap. He would soon find out how wrong he was.

After a few moments, Adam picked his head up, and a hanging light in the middle of the room came on when Hoffman pressed a button on the keyboard. He was surrounded by broken glass, but there was more to it than just that. There was a door on the other side of the room opposite to where he was sitting. So he would have to walk barefoot across the broken glass in order to get out of the room.  
But still, that wasn’t all. There were different cameras hanging around the room, each facing different directions, but a lot were surrounding where Adam was seated. He looked around the room, trying to figure out what was going on. Lawrence was doing the same. Did he just have to walk across the broken glass? It would be hard, but not impossible.

“You don't need to do this,” Lawrence spoke softly, but neither Adelaide nor Hoffman turned their attention away from the computer screen.

“Hello, Adam,” the familiar distorted voice spoke out from an unseen place in the large room. Adam looked around the room, trying to find a screen or tape recorder, but neither was in sight. He looked sick, like he had in the bathroom when the video began to play both his tape and the video of Lawrence and himself those few years ago.  
“I want to play a game. You have lived your life as a hermit, only going out in the world when you needed something from it. You never gave back; you only took. That was before, though, many years ago. You have been reborn. Now, it is time to see if you have really changed. You once lived in the dark, but now you claim to live in the light. You used to invade others’ lives by stalking and taking pictures of them. Now, the cameras are on you. You have sixty seconds to make it across the room to the door, before it locks, earning your freedom. But beware, living isn’t always the easiest thing. You can’t live in a world without light, but how else will you make it through the dark? Can you prove that there’s a light in you that wasn’t there before? Let the test begin, Adam. Let’s see if you are worthy of the second chance you were given.”

The light overhead turned off, but because of the camera that was recording the room, Lawrence and the others could still see Adam’s form in the darkness. He hadn’t moved yet, and the clock began to count down from sixty.

“Fuck this stupid shit,” he said as he stood up. When the clock got to fifty-five seconds, a chorus of flashes went off, blinding Adam where he stood. He stumbled forward, stepping onto the broken glass that covered the floor. “Fuck!” was all that came from him. His eyes were covered from the sudden attack of light that had come from the cameras’ flashes.

He stood, hands over his eyes, feet still in the glass, not moving. When he pulled his hands away, he took another step in the glass, toward the door that was his way out. When the countdown got to fifty, there was another bright flash across the room, once again blinding Adam. And it continued as the time counted down to zero.

This was when Lawrence noticed something on Adam’s skin. It looked like burn marks. It didn’t surprise Lawrence, though. The lights were bright enough to blind him. They were definitely bright enough to burn his skin. So he had a minute to walk through this, through broken glass, to the door? Of course it was going to kill him. There was no way he was going to make it. The room was about the size of high school gymnasium. Actually, it was a high school gym. He wasn’t going to make it out. Adam was going to get locked in here forever. Another place he was going to lose his life in.

The clock hit thirty-five seconds, and the lights flashed again. It did this at each five second interval, continuing to blind and burn Adam as he stepped through the broken glass that laid in his path to freedom.

Lawrence was angry. Adam didn’t deserve this treatment. He shouldn’t have been back here to begin with, but he definitely shouldn’t be going through something like this. He had already suffered enough. He had gone through too much. He said this to Hoffman and Adelaide, but they didn’t respond.

When the clock hit fifteen seconds, he was only about halfway through the gym. “Fuck it,” he said after the cameras flashed once more. Adam inhaled deeply, then ran across the glass covered gym floor with his hand still covering his eyes from the bright flashes from the cameras. He got to the door with one second left, but he had already pulled it open, falling out into the hallway.

Hoffman reached over toward the computer, pushing a button as Lawrence sighed in relief. Adam had made it out of his second test. Adelaide crossed her arms, but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure if she was mad. She looked curious, though. He should be out, right?

The screen cut to a new camera, showing Adam sitting on the floor, back to the door he had just crashed out of, head bowed down and shaking. There were some burn marks on his arms, and broken glass and blood covering his feet and the tiled floor in front of him, but Lawrence couldn’t see his face. He didn’t know the damage done there. Adam had been covering his face for most of it, but now he was sitting, completely still. He wasn’t shaking anymore.

“He got out,” Lawrence said finally. “Let him leave.”

“No,” Adelaide replied. “Not yet.”

“What do you mean not yet? He finished the damn test, Adelaide. Let him leave.”

“Not yet,” Hoffman seconded. Adelaide continued sitting with her arms crossed over her chest as Hoffman picked his coffee cup up, taking a slow drink from it. “He’s not done yet.”

“What do you mean he’s not done yet? Hoffman, he made it through your guys’ test. He’s done. Let him leave.”

“You’re a broken record, Gordon. He’s not leaving yet. He’s not done with his test. That was just the first part.”

“No. This isn’t a multiple step test. He’s done. He went through that shit. He’s done, Hoffman. Let him go.”

“Yes, Gordon, it is a multiple step test. He’s not done yet. Just shut the fuck up and sit there.” He reached for the remote control and looked back to Lawrence. “Or I will press this button. Are you sure you want to die for this kid?”

Lawrence didn’t respond right away. He didn’t respond at all, actually. He didn’t want to die, but he didn’t want to let Adam keep going through this living hell. He noticed Adam moving on the screen, pulling the glass from his feet. Lawrence felt awful. He wanted to get him out of these traps, but there was no doing so. He couldn't save him. It didn’t matter how much Lawrence felt like Adam’s life depended on Lawrence rescuing him. He wasn’t the one who was going to get the young man out of here. Adam needed to save himself.

When Adam pulled what looked like the last piece of glass out of his foot, he looked up. His eyes looked bloodshot, and his cheek was red, but it didn’t look like his face was going to suffer any real damage from the blinding light. This relieved Lawrence. He shouldn’t have his young, beautiful face messed up.

Lawrence knew he cared for Adam the way Adelaide and Hoffman claimed he did. He had just never admitted to anybody. Not John, his wife, Adam, or even himself. Lawrence had been at his absolute lowest, and Adam had seen that side of him. Nobody had ever seen Lawrence that way, and Adam was still supportive. He still tried to care for Lawrence, not let him die. He tried to talk him down from cutting his foot off. He tried to keep him sane. And along the way, he had developed an admiration for the man. It wasn’t until after, when he found out that Amanda had killed him- or the man they replaced Adam with- had he realized his feelings for him. He realized the admiration was adoration, and that was slowly turning to love.

He used to hate going to sleep at night, back when he first got out, because Lawrence knew Adam would occupy his dreams. He knew that he would see that young, hopeful, frightened face staring at him, blaming him for what happened, and there was no changing it. Lawrence regretted never going back to the bathroom, trying to get Adam out himself. He had fallen in love with that damn man, and he didn’t do anything to help him.

And Lawrence still wasn’t doing anything to help him. Of course the shotgun collar was something that could kill him if he tried to help Adam, but that shouldn’t matter. Not if he loved him. He should be doing something to get Adam out. He needed to get him out of here. He couldn't break that promise. Not again. He wouldn’t let Adam think he was going to get locked away and die once more in this place.

Adam rose from where he was sitting and looked forward. The camera wasn’t close enough to his face to really see what he looked like, but Lawrence noticed there was a look of both anxiety and determination in his features. He was going to get himself out of this place if it was the last thing he did. Adam was going to get away from Jigsaw again.

In front of him, there were pictures hanging on strings. They sparsely dangled from strings around the old school hallway. Lawrence wasn’t sure where he was, but he knew it couldn't be that far from where Lawrence, Adelaide, and Hoffman were. They must be in the same school, Lawrence thought.

Adam reached forward, touching one of the images. His eyes narrowed, but then he laughed. It seemed like he was attempting not to cry.

“Are you serious?” he asked, pulling the picture down from the ceiling. He walked to the next, doing the same to the second. He walked down the hallway, pulling each photograph from the ceiling as he made his way to the large oak double doors. “This is fucking stupid.”

When he made it to the end of the hall, Adam stopped, seeing the note written in bright red paint on the door in front of him. It said “Can you get out of your own head to lend a helping hand?” Adam glared at the words, pushing the door open. It moved, but didn’t open all the way. It was stuck, like all the other doors in the Jigsaw traps.

Adam pushed the door once more, harder than the first few times, and he fell into the next hallway. Laying on the old tiled floor was a young woman, probably around Adam’s age. She was strapped to the floor by both her wrists and ankles. Above her were different long blades, most likely swords’ blades, dangling from the ceiling. There was a machine to the left, something Lawrence had never seen before. She was trying to get up, but couldn’t.

“Mackenzie?” Adam asked, rushing over to the girl who had stopped moving at the sound of somebody entering the room. Apparently he knew her.

“Adam?” Mackenzie asked. She was terrified. Lawrence couldn’t see her face, but he heard it in her voice. “Adam? Is that you? Why am I here?”

“I don’t know, Mackenzie. I, I don’t know why you’re here.”

“What happened to your face? What the hell is going on? Where are we?”

“Some old high school, I think. I don’t know what’s going on. I.”

But Adam was cut off. Once again, like the previous room, a tape started playing from some unseen spot.

“Hello Adam,” the distorted Jigsaw voice rang throughout the hallway. “You have managed to prove that the darkness doesn’t hold you anymore, that there is a light in you. Now you see your old girlfriend, Mackenzie. She has led a good life, never letting anything bother her, or negative in her life. That is, until she met you. You were too angry for her to handle. Your anger has ruined many relationships throughout your life, Adam. Your parents, brothers, sister, friends. They have all endured so much pain from you. Now, it is time to see if you can endure pain for somebody rather than the other way around. To your left, there is a machine that will release the restraints on Mackenzie’s wrists and ankles, and stop the blades from being released overhead. All you have to do is put your hand into the vice and let the four mechanisms crush the bones in your fingers. If you fail to do this in sixty seconds, all the blades will fall and impale Mackenzie. Let’s see how much of yourself you are willing to break in order to keep the people you have broke yourself intact.”

When the tape stopped, the digital clock on the wall began to count down like the one in the gym. Adam looked at it, then to Mackenzie, and finally at the machine that he was going to have to crush his hand in. He looked nervous, unsure what to do first. Should he go try to get her out of the restraints? Figure out how to keep the blades from falling? Just put his hand in the vice? There were different options, and everybody in this type of situation would choose something different. But Adam knew what he had to do.

“Adam!” Mackenzie shouted from the floor where she was trying to get up. One of the blades fell from the ceiling, cutting the right side of her left thigh. Mackenzie screamed in pain as she tried to pull away. Adam bit his lip in thought, but then decisively moved to the machine, placing his left hand into the opening. He closed his eyes as another blade fell, stabbing into Mackenzie’s arm. Once again, she screamed in anguish. He tapped his foot quickly in nervousness before pushing the buttons in the machine.

Lawrence wasn’t sure how the machine worked exactly, but the pain in Adam’s face showed the the vice was definitely crushing his fingers. He screamed a little in pain, but used his other hand to brace himself against the machine. Another blade fell from the ceiling, just missing Mackenzie’s stomach. It landed to her right, the side Lawrence could see. It had cut her open, but didn’t stab into her. It honestly would have been better if it had stabbed her. At least then she would have a controlled cut, and not just an open wound.

As the time got to twenty-eight seconds, it stopped. No more blades fell, and Mackenzie was released, as was Adam’s hand. He made it. Adam looked at his crushed hand,  
cradling it against his chest as Mackenzie began to stand up, but couldn’t because of the amount of blood spilling from her side. Lawrence knew she was going to die if she didn't get help right away. When he voiced this, neither Adelaide nor Hoffman responded. They just waved him off. After all, they didn’t care whether or not she died.

“Mackenzie, I’m sorry,” Adam said, moving over to where his ex-girlfriend bled out on the dirty tiled floor. “I don’t know why they did this to you. I don’t know why they would make you go through this. They shouldn’t have. But don’t worry, okay? You’re going to be fine. You’re going to get out of here.” He was helping her wrap her jacket around the large gaping wound on her side. “But you have to stay here, okay? I don’t want you to see this stuff.”

“Is this Jigsaw?” she asked, frightened. When he nodded, she looked down at his crushed hand. She reached forward, gently touching it. “I thought he was dead.”

“His accomplices aren’t. They brought me here, just like they brought you. I don’t know if anybody else is here, so I don’t want you to come with me. You’ll bleed more if you move, anyway. So stay here. Somebody will come.” Adam stood up looking toward the direction he was supposed to go. Before he began down the hall, he looked back down at the bleeding brunette. “I, I’m sorry, Mackenzie.”

And with that, he began his way down the hall.

Lawrence noticed the difference in Adam’s attitude. He used to panic a lot, trying not to actually do anything. But now, he was helping others and moving along, keeping himself going. Alive. He was still alive because he learned how to take care of himself. Lawrence was proud.

When he turned to the left at the end of the hall, like the red arrows indicated he was supposed to do, Adam was met with more images hanging from the ceiling. He walked through them, looking at some, but not all, as he passed. He didn’t rip them down, either. He just kept moving. That’s all he could do, anyway.

Adam got to a door that opened up into a classroom. On this door, in the same red paint and handwriting, read, “You’ve always played the victim. Can somebody be your victim?”.

He sighed a little, taking a breath before he opened the door to the next trial he was going to have to go through in order to prove himself worthy. He was worthy, though. He helped save Lawrence those few years ago, and now he helped Mackenzie. He was a good person who deserved to live. There was no question about it. Lawrence just hoped that Adam saw what he saw in him.

Just like the other door, this one stuck until the pin was pulled and the door slammed open. Inside was a rather grisly sight. It was something Lawrence was used to, but didn’t enjoy seeing. Adam, on the other hand, was not used to seeing this type of stuff. He shifted back out of the door, looking down at the floor before entered the room completely. He looked like he didn’t want to go in. Lawrence didn’t blame him.

Inside the large classroom, the teacher’s desk had been moved to the center of the room, the students’ desks surrounding it. Connected to each desk was a thin chain leading to the object on the larger desk. On that desk, the object, was a man who looked around Lawrence’s age, with each one of the thin chains connected to him. He didn’t have his clothing on, except for his black underwear. Each of the chains were connected to hooks in different parts of his body. His hands, chest, stomach, legs, feet, and one was connected to his neck. There was something else on the ends of the chains, though. They looked like little syringes.

Adam approached the man slowly, trying not to make too much noise. He looked more nervous than he ever had in the time Lawrence had met him. Lawrence didn’t recognize the man, like he hadn’t recognized Mackenzie, but Adam clearly knew him, like he knew her. Adam looked like he didn’t want to see the man, but he also didn’t want to leave him there.

“What the fuck!” the man shouted as he finally awoke from the sedatives Hoffman or Adelaide had given him. “Adam? What the fuck are you doing here? Where the fuck am I?”

“I don’t know where we are,” Adam stammered out. Lawrence had never heard him stammer before. He seemed more afraid of the man than the traps he had been apart of. “I, Dad.”

This was Adam’s father. He and Lawrence hadn’t talked about Adam’s family, but it also seemed like he hadn’t wanted to talk about his past all that much, so Lawrence never pushed.

“Hello, Adam,” a third- or technically fourth, if the bathroom tape was included- tape said, “and welcome to your next test. Lying before you is the man who you always blamed all of your problems on: your father. You always acted like he was the worst man to live. Of course, he was an alcoholic who hit you and your family, but you made him seem like a murderous monster. Now it’s your turn to be the monster, if you so choose. There are twenty fish hooks in your father. On the ends of each hook is a needle with a lethal amount of poison in it. If you do not get all of the hooks out before the ninety seconds are up, each will stab into his skin, poisoning his blood and slowly killing him. Even one will be fatal. There is no cure for the poison, so are you willing to pull apart the man you so desperately hate in order to save his life? Are you done playing the victim? Are you ready to move on with your life? Victim or culprit, Adam. Make your choice.”

“Get me the fuck out of here, Adam!” his father yelled. “What the fuck did you do? You’re gone for five years, and this shit starts happening? What the fuck are you getting into? You’ve always been a disappointment. I’m not surprised somebody is doing this shit to you, you stupid ass.”

Adam stood there in silence, staring at his father. He didn’t move toward him. If anything, he shifted away. Whatever trauma Adam had went through with his father, it hadn’t been forgotten. Or forgiven.

“Adam,” his father said. The clock was at seventy-three seconds. “Get over here and pull these fucking things out!”

Lawrence noticed the way Adam flinched, looking at his father in caution as he got closer to him. “Are you sure you want me to pull hooks out of you?” he asked quietly. Lawrence almost didn’t hear what Adam had said.

“I’m in this fucking thing because of you! Get me out of it! Now!”

So Adam did what his father told him to do. His father shouted out in pain. He also continued swearing at Adam as he pulled the hooks out of his father’s flesh. Adam looked like he was about to pass out, Lawrence noticed. The amount of stress these tests were putting on Adam wasn’t right. He shouldn’t have to take care of all these people, have their lives in his hands.

As the time ran out, Adam had three hooks left. But the digital clock stopped at 0:00. His time was up. The last three hooks that had the syringes attached to them stabbed into Adam’s father. There was some yelling in pain, and then, “You’ve never been able to do anything right, you fucking idiot! You were a mistake! Your mother should have gotten the abortion that I wanted her to get with you!”

He continued yelling these things at Adam as he backed quickly out from the room. The door shut behind him, and he almost sank down to the floor in the hallway. Adam stopped moving. He just stood, leaned against the lockers, staring down at his bloody, broken hand. He stayed like this for about a minute before following the arrows to the next place he was meant to go.

“I honestly didn’t think he would do it to begin with,” Adelaide commented. Hoffman nodded in agreement. Lawrence didn’t respond. He was too busy watching Adam walk down yet another hallway full of pictures to another set of large oak doors. On these was the phrase written in red, “You’ve had to listen to her die before. Will you again?”.

This didn’t make sense. Who had Adam almost listen to die? There was nobody.

Yes. Yes, there was.

Adam’s eyes narrowed in confusion as he stepped toward the door, pushing it open with the right amount of force to do it on the first try.

What he found both shocked Adam and infuriated Lawrence. “No,” Adam said. Adelaide and Hoffman turned to look at him finally. They had blank, emotionless expressions on their faces. “No. She’s not supposed to be apart of this. She was never supposed to be apart of this.”

“You should have thought of this before thinking Adam was above being tested,” Hoffman responded in a nonchalant tone. He turned back to face the computer screen. Adelaide and Lawrence stared at one another a moment longer, but then she too turned to look back at the screen. So Lawrence followed suit. There was nothing else he could do.

In the room was a blonde woman sitting strapped to a chair. This blonde woman was also known as Alison, Lawrence’s ex-wife. She was strapped to it by her wrists, elbows, waist, and ankles. Her head was down. She was still unconscious. Adam slowly made his way across the stage Alison was sitting on slowly, looking more confused than anything. He had never seen her in person. Just the photograph Zep had taken when he had kidnapped both Alison and their daughter, Diana.

Finally, she picked her head up, showing the gag in her mouth. He motioned toward the gag and Alison nodded a little. So Adam reached over, pulling it from between her lips, letting her speak freely. “Who are you?” she asked. “Why are we here?”

“I, I’m Adam,” he said softly. Alison’s eyes just stared in confusion back at him. She had never seen him in person, either. “Who are you? Why would I know you? The door said I would know you. I’ve known the others.”

“Hello, Adam,” the tape said in Jigsaw’s trademark voice. Alison’s eyes widened in recognition.

“I thought this was over,” she whispered. Adam just shook his head sadly.

“You haven’t met this woman in person before, yet you know who she is. This is Alison Gordon, the ex-wife of the man you were locked in the bathroom with five years ago. Back then, she didn’t know who you were, and you didn’t know who she was, but you knew of one another. You also listened to her fight for her life against Zep Hindle, the man you brutally murdered. She got away, unscathed, as did you. But you thought you listened to her die. Now it’s time to see if you will listen to her die again, or if you are willing to do what you need in order to save the ex-wife of the man you’re in love with. The twelve knives in the back of the chair Alison is strapped to will pop up, stabbing into her stomach and chest if you do not get her out before the two minutes are up. But beware, getting her out will cause damage to your hands if you are willing to touch the restraints on her. Will you save somebody else’s life, putting another ahead of yourself, or will you let her down like you let so many others down? Choose who is more important, Adam. Your body or her life.”

“What did he mean, the ex-wife of the man you’re in love with?” Alison questioned. She didn’t look mad, just confused. When he didn’t respond, the recognition hit her. “You were the man in the room with Larry. You, he said you were dead.”

“I didn’t die,” Adam finally spoke. The time was counting down. He glanced at it nervously, then back to her. “I, I don’t know. He saved me without knowing it. He thought I was dead. I, we need to get you out of here. You can’t die. Not like this.”

Adam moved over to where Alison was strapped to the chair. There were razor wires wrapped around the restraints. But the clock was ticking, and Adam was pulling them off with his good hand, cutting deep into his fingers, so he could unbuckle the straps on her wrists.

As one of her arms got free, Alison began to help Adam with getting her out. Adam managed to get the last one off her waist with three seconds left on the clock. The time stopped, and they both moved away from the chair as the twelve blades stabbed out through the back. There was blood on both Alison’s arms and ankles, and Adam’s hands. They stood together in silence for a moment.

“You’re in love with him?” she asked after a few awkward seconds.

Adam didn’t respond. He didn’t look away from the chair Lawrence’s ex-wife had just been strapped to. Instead of acknowledging her, Adam just nodded.

“So the cat’s out of the bag,” Hoffman said, turning to face Lawrence. The screen had cut off after he pushed one of the buttons on the keyboard. “He’s in love with you as much as you are in love with him.”

Lawrence didn’t say anything as Adelaide turned to look at him. She stared at him, her arms still crossed, a faint smile on her lips.

“I guess he is worth it, Larry,” she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make tapes like Jigsaw, so I hoped they worked out. I don't know how long this story is going to be, because I kind of like what I've done so far.


	3. How it Began: Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter, mainly a little thing before I get back into the story. I wrote it based on Lawrence's first moments waking up in the bathroom.

Lawrence was relieved after Adam completed his tests, but he was worried about what was going to happen now. Neither Hoffman nor Adelaide had said anything after she said he was worthy of his life. They both stood up and began to gather their things, ignoring Lawrence’s existence. He was still strapped to the library chair, shotgun collar resting on his shoulders, around his neck.

“So what’s the plan?” Lawrence asked bitterly as Adelaide turned to face Hoffman. They were about fifteen feet from where Lawrence was still tied up, whispering softly to one another. Lawrence couldn’t hear what either of them were saying. Neither had yet spoken a word to him, only one another. “Are we leaving now that Adam has completed his test? Are we done now that he has proven, again, that he deserves to live?”

“Yes,” Adelaide said, finally moving over to where Lawrence was.

She didn’t say anything else as she approached him. Lawrence was cautious. He didn’t know what the plan was now. Normally, they just left. But he hadn’t been in on this trial, so he wasn’t sure where they were, where they were going, or, actually, anything. He didn’t know what was going to happen next, much to his disappointment.

“Good, because this shouldn’t have happened, Adelaide. This wasn’t a plan of mine. It also wasn’t John’s plan. Wait. Adelaide. What are you doing?”

Adelaide had pulled yet another syringe out of her pocket, moving toward her mentor in silence. She didn’t speak again as she raised the needle close to Lawrence’s neck, pushing the plunger once it was in his skin.

Confusion and anger overcame Lawrence. This wasn’t the way Adelaide was supposed to treat Lawrence. He was the one who taught her how to help people learn that they needed to be happy with the life they were given. He taught her everything she knew. She couldn’t do this to him.

Once again, Lawrence felt the blackness creeping over his senses. He didn’t want this to continue happening to him. This was already the second time today. Ever since the first time he woke up in the bathroom after being put into unconsciousness, Lawrence hated to have anyone come near him with the syringes. He didn’t like anyone to threaten him with unconsciousness, either. He normally left those moments for Amanda and Hoffman, and now Adelaide. But here he was, going back into that darkness.

He never wanted to be in that darkness again. The dark was a place he didn’t like to go, but he was very familiar with. In this line of work, one had to grow accustomed to seeing the darkest things that was imaginable. It didn’t matter what he wanted, though. Lawrence knew it was happening anyway. It swallowed him up, threatening to take him away from the world and never return him to the people he cared for. Of course, there weren’t many people he actually cared for, but there were some. There was Adam, for instance. And Diana.

Lawrence thought about that time in the bathroom as he continued fading into the black, before Adam was awake and he found the lightswitch. Waking up to find himself shackled to some type of pipe in a musty smelling, hot room. He could feel the dirt under his hands and feet as he felt around for a way out. The walls were grimy with something Lawrence didn’t even want to think about. He was used to being in a very sterile place. This was nothing like it. This was the opposite. This was place he didn’t belong.

The bathroom was dark, hot, and void of all other living things. Or at least that’s what Lawrence had thought. He was awake for about twenty minutes before Adam had woken up from his own kidnapping, done by Amanda.

In those twenty minutes, Lawrence had lost his mind. He was worried about where he was. He didn’t understand why somebody would take him. Lawrence didn't know what was going on back home, with his daughter and his wife. He didn’t know if they had been taken, and were in a similar position. What if they were locked away in a room, just like himself? He wasn’t sure if they were even alive.

Lawrence tried to pull the chain, unwrap it from the pipe, to no avail. There was no way out. And he yelled. He screamed for help, but none ever came. Lawrence was alone in a place he had never been before, never dreamed of being before. And he was hopeless. He was lost.

After finally giving up on screaming, he stood up, touching the wall against his better judgement. He needed to figure out where he was. Because he couldn’t see in the pitch black room, that was going to be difficult. There was absolutely no light coming from any of the walls, no cracks indicating a door leading out of the room he was locked in. He didn’t know how large the area was. There was no way of knowing if he was underground, because there were no windows. His breathing was quicker, but that was because of his anxiousness, not the altitude and air pressure being different.

Lawrence decided he was probably in some sort of warehouse, maybe a backroom or office of some sort, somewhere abandoned, because nobody was responding to his cries for help. He was hidden away from the world, lost, most likely going to be forgotten. There was no changing what was going to happen to him: he was going to die in here. There was no other option. Lawrence was going to die.  
So he gave up.

He sat back down on the dirty floor, leaning his back against the wall. He rested his elbows on his knees that he had pulled up to his chest. He placed his hands over his face. Lawrence tried to calm down, reason with himself that he was going to be okay, but the logical side of him was gone. All that was left was the fear of dying in this unfamiliar place, alone. Afraid.

He couldn’t let this happen. He had to try to find a way out of here. Or at least a light to show where he was. If he could just find the light switch to the room, if there was one, then he would be able to think better. He would have a better handle on the situation.

That’s when it happened, the moment he was startled from his thoughts. Adam popped out of the tub full of water across the room from where Lawrence sat. He wasn’t sure at the time that there was a tub in the room, or that there was somebody else, but it happened. Lawrence wasn’t alone. Finally, he wasn’t alone.

“Hello?” Lawrence called out to the unknown person. There was still a lot of movement, but the other person wasn’t saying much. Some younger man, angry and confused with his current situation. He was just like Lawrence had been moments ago. “I think I found the light switch, hold on.” And Lawrence turned on the lights.

Across from him, a young man, mid twenties most likely, was sitting on the floor of what appeared to be a bathroom. It was old, broken, and bloody. A man, John, Jigsaw, his mentor, laid in the middle. He was faced down, in just underwear and a white t-shirt.  
He was covering his face from the sudden assault of light. “Where the hell are we?” Adam asked in a panicked tone. “No.” He tried pulling the chain from his leg loose, but nothing happened. Lawrence knew nothing was going to happen. “No!”

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“My name is Very Fucking Confused; what’s your name?”

And that’s how it started. That’s when Lawrence felt something for this young man. He was angry, afraid, had a bad vocabulary. But he was the only other person in the room with Lawrence. And he reacted almost the same way to their current situation that Lawrence had. He was the only other person who understood what happened that day, night? It didn’t matter. Adam was the man Lawrence spent an awful six hours with. They formed a strange bond, constantly bickering, but wanting to get out of the bathroom together. They wanted to help one another make it out alive.

The darkness overtook Lawrence once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just my thoughts of what happened before Adam woke up. I doubt they're correct, but this was just my opinion. I also didn't want to retell the whole story, so it's just the beginning.


	4. When He Woke Up: Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is after Adam's test, when Lawrence finally wakes up from the sedative in a familiar place, and a familiar face.

When Lawrence woke up, he was lying on the bed he had woken up in five years ago, after amputating his foot. Only this time, there was nothing physically wrong with him. At least he had that going for him.

Lawrence laid still for a moment, wondering why he was there, and not somewhere else, like the abandoned high school. Why would Hoffman and Adelaide put him in a bed? In this bed, to be exact. Why wouldn’t they just leave him in a chair or something? That’s what they did the first time. They weren’t acting the way they should with Lawrence.  
Adelaide and Hoffman shouldn't be giving Lawrence sedatives and tying him up. Even though Hoffman was the first accomplice of John’s, Lawrence knew that he was higher up than Hoffman ever was. John trusted Lawrence more.

For the first few moments of being awake, Lawrence just laid on the bed in silence, not looking around, not really caring all that much about his current situation. It wasn’t like he was going through anything bad right now, not really. Lawrence was in a place he knew. He wasn’t tied up. He wasn't still unconscious. He was fine. Everything was fine.

Or was it? Was anything really fine ever? Sure, things got better once he got out of that bathroom, but it wasn’t like life was perfect. Lawrence changed his life, but it wasn’t like everything was perfect. He didn’t think anything could actually be perfect.  
Adam.

Adam was fine. Right?

Somehow, Lawrence had completely forgotten about Adam in his sleepy state of mind. Only a few, hours? ago, he had been worried sick about the young man, wondering whether or not he was going to die. Concerned about him going through his test and having to watch people die. He had left before his father had actually died, but it didn’t mean Adam hadn’t known his death was inevitable. Adam didn’t deserve that.

He was like a broken record when it came to Adam. Hoffman was right. It didn’t matter how many times Lawrence tried to put Adam out of his thoughts: he knew Adam deserved better than the events he had gone through throughout his life. Adam was the type of person that could go unnoticed by everybody else, but Lawrence would always seem him.

Then Lawrence’s mind went to the last thing Alison and Adam were talking about before Hoffman turned the camera off. Adam had admitted he was in love with him. Lawrence wasn’t sure how that was. Why would Adam feel this way about Lawrence? He understood his feelings for Adam, but surely he didn’t feel the same. Adam was young, and Lawrence left him alone in that bathroom, never to see the light of day again. Lawrence thought he was dead for so long, and Adam never tried to contact him. Sure, he wasn’t supposed to, but he still could have. It’s not like they were constantly watching him. Or maybe they were. Maybe he knew they were and that’s why he never reached out to Lawrence. But still, Adam could have done whatever he wanted. He had lived. He made it through those dark days he was shackled in that bathroom.

From the time Adam had woken up, he had seemed different to Lawrence. Not bad, just different. He had actually changed after being placed in the bathroom trap. There were a lot of people who had been put through the Jigsaw traps that seemed to be changed. Lawrence had seen the differences at the survivor meetings, like AA meetings, that were held for the people who had escaped with their lives. There weren’t hundreds of them, but there was a handful of new and different people at each meeting.  
But there were always some people who didn’t appreciate life. This was true for people who hadn’t even been tested by Jigsaw’s games. Adelaide had been one of those people, until Lawrence tested her. She didn’t care for her life. Now she did, but some people weren’t like her. They weren’t like Lawrence. Sure, they knew why they were there, in the traps, and what they had done wrong, but they just didn’t care about changing their lives.

Lawrence went to those meetings for a number of reasons. First of all, he was a survivor, and people knew this. Second, he wanted to see the people he personally placed in traps, see how their lives were going. Make sure they were living their lives the way they should have always been living them. And lastly, he wanted to see what they said about not just him, but the other accomplices, as well.

Adam hadn’t been to them, obviously. Lawrence thought because he was dead for so long, but after thinking about it, he wasn’t sure if Adam would be the type of person who would want to talk about his experience. There was a lot of negativity that happened there for him, to him and what he had done himself. Adam had killed Zep, which was something very difficult for him to handle even when he did it, Lawrence could tell. After Adam did it, he seemed broken, like all the happiness in him was completely gone, like it had left with that first smack from the toilet tank’s lid.

Maybe it would have been beneficial for Adam to have talked about what happened to him in their Jigsaw trap, but John told him he wasn’t allowed to tell anybody about what happened to him. And Adam had done that. At least he had actually listened.

And that’s another thing that was different with Adam. He listened more now. He did what was asked of him. He listened to what he had to do, and did it with little hesitation. Five years ago, he fought a lot when he and Lawrence were locked in that bathroom. Adam planned out what he was going to do, but hid them from Lawrence. Adam just looked out for Adam.

But now Adam put others before himself. He crushed his hand to get Mackenzie out of her trap. And he tried to save his father by pulling the hooks out. And Adam almost did save him. And he saved Lawrence’s ex-wife, Alison. He saved people. He wasn’t selfish anymore. He tried to be a good person now, which was great. Lawrence was so proud of the young man who had finally grown up into the person Lawrence always knew he could have been.

Lawrence wasn’t sure where any of them were now, though. They might still be in the high school. He didn’t know if they got Alison out, because she hadn’t died. Lawrence saw that she didn’t die. He didn’t know if Mackenzie was alive. Lawrence didn't know if Hoffman and Adelaide had just left all of them there. Adam could still be locked inside that abandoned high school, for all Lawrence knew.

So he finally decided to sit up after about fifteen minutes of lying in the bed quietly. Neither Hoffman nor Adelaide had come to check on Lawrence, at least not since he woke up, so he guessed he was going to have to go and find them and probably yell at them. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do when he found them. He was still angry they took Adam and forced him to go through another trap. Those types of things never happened.

Amanda, a previous accomplice who died when John had, went through her own trap, the Reverse Bear trap. Hoffman also had this contraption on his head. It was locked in the mouth around the head and opened up, ripping the mouth open all the way. Amanda had been placed in this house trap with a few others. But it wasn’t really her test. She was only there to keep the game moving forward. Nobody was tested twice. No one.

After a few more minutes, he needed to get up. He needed to get out of this room and confront the other accomplices about what happened prior to Lawrence waking up. He needed to know their reasoning for what they did. He wanted to know what went through their mind when they decided to do what they did to him. They knew better.

Lawrence looked to his left, surprised at what he found in the bed next to him. He expected he was alone in the room, because it was completely silent. But this was how it had been when he woke up in the bathroom. When he saw that somebody was on the other bed, he was hopeful. Finally, some good news.

“Adam?” Lawrence asked as he got out of bed, quickly moving to the other bed a few feet from where he had been. Adam was in the bed next to where he had been laying for half an hour.

Adam was lying on the bed, on his back. His eyes were closed and he had some bandages on his arms and hands, one on his cheek, and there were probably some on his feet. There was also bandages wrapped around the hand he had crushed in the vice. The only positive part was that he looked peaceful in his sleep. He wasn’t in a good place, but he didn’t look angry or in pain.

He was alright.

Adam was fine.

He was here.

Lawrence reached down to gently caress Adam’s check. His head shifted a little on the pillow, but Adam didn’t wake up. Lawrence went over and carried a chair to sit next to Adam’s sleeping body. He had been through so much. He had broken bones, deep cuts, multiple burns. He went through hell, and kept on going.

But he survived. Adam made it through the test.

It was about twenty-five minutes later when Adam finally woke up from either passing out or a sedative. He hadn’t been awake when Adam was brought here, so it could have been either of those options. Lawrence hadn’t left his side, not once, though he could have. He wanted to confront the other accomplices for what they had done without consulting him first, something he had always told them not to do, but Lawrence decided staying with Adam would be better. He wanted to be there if Adam woke up, so maybe he could calm him down and make sure that he was actually okay.

Adam’s eyes opened slowly as he stared up at the ceiling. They were narrowed in his sleepy state. He blinked a few times, then left his eyes shut for a moment. He laid in silence for another minute or so before he was looking up at the ceiling again. They shot open and he sat up on the bed suddenly. It shocked Lawrence a little, how fast he got up. He shouldn’t be moving that much or that quickly.

“Hey,” Lawrence said softly, rising to his feet, reaching over to touch Adam’s back. He didn’t apply much pressure, in case he had some burns on his back. Lawrence wouldn’t have been surprised if there were any. Those flashes had been too bright. “Adam, it’s okay. Everything is fine now. You’re done with the test.”

“Why?” was all he spoke. Adam looked up to Lawrence’s face, his dark brown eyes stared up at his in sadness.

“They thought you needed to go through a real test. They thought you were just a pawn for me, and the bathroom was just my test. But it wasn't. It was your test, too. You shouldn’t have had to do what you did. Adam, I, i’m sorry for what they made you do, what they put you through.”

“You didn’t know they were doing it?”

“Of course not. I never would have let them do anything like that to you. I went to get the key for the shackle, to let you out. I was going to get you out of there. They gave me a sedative before I could get the key. I woke up in the library of the school you were in.”

“How did you know I was in a school? Were you watching me?”

“Yes, I was watching you. I didn’t want to, though. I wanted to help. There’s cameras in all the traps. Adam, I didn’t want them to do anything to you. I tried to stop them, but they had tied me up to a chair and gave me another sedative after you were done with Alison’s trap, your test. I’m sorry that this happened to you.”

“You watched all that? You, you heard the tapes?”

“Yes, I heard the tapes, Adam. But it’s okay. I know you changed. That you’re not the same person you were five years ago. I know you’re not still the same man you were when you dated Mackenzie. And you’re not the same kid you were growing up with your father. You’re a good person, Adam. And they shouldn’t have put you through a test to prove it. You shouldn’t have had to prove your worth.”

“I’m glad Alison didn’t die.”

“Me too, Adam. You saved her. Even though we got divorced four and half years ago, I still don’t want anything to happen to her. She’s the mother to my daughter. She also shouldn’t have been there. Mackenzie shouldn't have been there, either. I don’t know what happened to those three, but I know you’re fine, and that’s what really matters.”

“So you heard everything.”

“Yes. I told you, there were cameras in each of the rooms and hallways. They’re always in the path of the person who is being tested. We have to see what’s going on so we know that everything is going according to plan.”

“You heard it. The tape with Alison.”

Lawrence stood there for a moment in confusion, his hand still on Adam’s back. Adam was still sitting up, staring at Lawrence with those sad, dark eyes. Why did he keep asking if he had heard the tapes? Of course he heard what was said on the tapes. Lawrence had told him about the cameras more than once, and said he heard them through that. Why did he keep asking?

Adam admitted he was in love with Lawrence.  
Not verbally, but by nodding, agreeing with Alison when she asked if he was in love with Lawrence. Of course. That’s why Adam was acting weird.

“It’s okay,” Lawrence started, but Adam finally looked away from him, knowing what Lawrence had just realized. “Adam. It’s okay. You heard what they said about me earlier, when you were still locked in the bathroom.”

Adam didn’t say anything for a moment. He continued staring down at the his hands that rested on his lap. Lawrence didn’t want to pressure Adam into talking about this, not right now, because he was going to need to rest. He was emotionally drained for starters, and he was physically healing. He needed time. This could wait.

“Look, Adam,” Lawrence began again. Adam still didn't lift his head. “I know you’ve been through a lot and you probably don’t want to talk about this right now. That’s fine. We can talk about this later. I’ve got to go, though. I need to talk to the others about what happened. You’re fine now, though. They’re not going to do anything else to you. I won’t let them. I promise.”

Instead of looking up at Lawrence and away from his hands, Adam nodded. His cheeks were slightly pinker than they were when he was sleeping. Was he embarrassed? He shouldn’t be. Lawrence felt the same way.

“Just rest, okay?” Lawrence insisted. “Everything is fine now.”

Once again, Adam only nodded, so Lawrence left the room without saying anything else.

Lawrence walked around the compound where Hoffman, Adelaide, and himself did their work. He was angry once again. He shouldn’t have to be dealing with this right now. There was supposed to be another game in a few nights, which probably meant tonight. He was going to have to do that, try not to worry about Adam, and work with Hoffman and Adelaide in semi-friendly way. Or at least in a professional way. This was going to be difficult.

When he finally found them, they were in the room with all the computer monitors, turning them on. Lawrence found the rooms were ready for the night’s game. There were people in each one, ready to go. Lawrence was still upset with them over everything, but at least he didn't have to worry about the setup. Hoffman and Adelaide were normally good at that.

“Hey, Larry,” Adelaide said as if nothing had happened only a few hours ago. “Did he wake up?”

“Yes, he woke up,” Lawrence replied bitterly. He couldn’t help it. He was still mad at them. “And he probably wants to leave, but can’t, because he’s not strong enough to go back to ‘his home.”

“You’re letting him go back?” Hoffman questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course, Mark. It’s his home.”

“I would have thought you would keep him here with you.”

“It’s his home. He wants to go back.”

“Did he say that?” Adelaide asked. “Maybe he wants to stay here with you. You heard the tape. He loves you. He wants to be with you.”

“You never said he wanted to be with me. And neither did he. So, he’s going to go back home, where he belongs. Where he wants to be. That’s where his life is now, Adelaide. Why would he want to stay with me?”

“Because he’s in love with you,” Hoffman replied, irritated.

Lawrence sighed heavily, knowing this was going nowhere. “Look, he’s been through a lot and I don’t want either of you going around him unless you tell me first. Or I’m with you. No. Don’t go around him at all. No matter what. Okay?” When neither of them responded, he repeated himself with more aggression than needed. “Okay?”  
“Yes, Gordon,” Hoffman said, rolling his eyes.

“Okay, Larry,” Adelaide replied.

“Good,” Lawrence said, crossing the room to the monitors. “So we’re ready?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if Lawrence and Adam will talk about their relationship the next chapter, or if I'll do it after I do the next Jigsaw game (which will be the fifth chapter).


	5. New Test Subjects: Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I made another 'game' for this chapter, not as much detail and not the complete tests, either. But I also included some Lawrence and Adam in it.

Lawrence was patiently sitting in a chair, not talking to either Hoffman or Adelaide, waiting for the first person of the night to wake up. The anger had subsided in the past two hours, but it wasn’t like they were going to be all buddy-buddy with one another.

The group of test subjects, who were on the screens in front of the accomplices, were in an old hospital, one that had mainly regular doctor’s rooms, but there were some that were dentist’s rooms. It was a very odd place, he noted. Lawrence wasn’t entirely sure why this hospital had both, but it was pretty old, so maybe they did the same practices in one place. He still wasn’t sure, thought. Neither Hoffman nor Adelaide knew, either. Not that they were talking about their settings for these games.

It was time for the first test of the night to begin. The person being tested was a young man, twenty-seven, Lawrence knew, who never really tried to take care of himself, or his young daughter, Malia. She was only seven years old, and Ian, the man who was being tested, left her home alone to fend for herself. It was the exact opposite of what a father was supposed to do. He didn’t pay attention to her enough. He didn’t care about where she was, where she was going, what she was doing, or how she was going to eat.  
Ian was a bad father and a bad man.

He was into some bad things. Ian was stealing and selling different things, from electronics to illegal drugs. He also had people who were after him, on numerous occasions. Lawrence found out that once, a group of men broke into his house and threatened to shoot, or do something else with, his daughter. On the file the police had, Ian had apparently almost let them do whatever ‘something else’ was to Malia. Lawrence couldn’t believe this. She was a little girl that didn’t deserve to live in the same home with a man like this.

Lawrence normally didn’t take sides on whether or not he wanted the people going through the tests to live or die. He didn’t want to invest too much of his emotions in it; they weren’t supposed to feel anything toward the test subjects. But sometimes, it was hard. Especially with people like Ian. Lawrence would never have even thought to let something happen to Diana, and Ian was ready to let these men hurt his daughter.

So basically, Lawrence couldn’t find himself to hope for Ian to live. Maybe he was wrong to feel this way, but Lawrence didn’t care.

Of course there was a chance he would change. People changed every day, for one reason or another. Maybe Ian would realize his mistakes and cherish his daughter more. Or maybe he would revert back to the same man he was before, putting his daughter’s safety after the small amount of money he got from drug dealing. There was no telling how these games would play out. Sometimes people did truly change, while others went right back to their old ways.

Lawrence’s eyes traveled across the monitors in front of him, questioning himself. Were these people worthy of their lives? Would he find out in a few hours if they would all live or die? Or some of them would live while others died? Lawrence never knew the outcome. He just knew to be prepared no matter what happened. That’s what John always said: he didn’t know how the games were going to play out: he just had his idea of how the person would work, and go from there. Maybe there was a lot of room for error, or mistakes they, the accomplices, made, but John didn’t worry about that. All he worried about was the person, or people, going through their tests, their games. So Lawrence couldn’t concern himself with those negative thoughts, either.

Some people thought John was a horrible monster for doing the things he did to people. The same people felt the same toward all the accomplices, even if they didn’t know how many there were. Others saw that he was testing their wills to live, like Lawrence did, and that he wasn’t an awful person. Sure, there were some bad things that happened to people that may or may not have deserved it, honestly, but it was still the way John wanted it. Lawrence did the games the exact way John wanted him to. That’s why he was supposedly the greatest asset: he did what John wanted and need to be done without questioning it.

Ian finally woke up.

“He’s awake,” Lawrence said to the other two accomplices.

“Which one?” Hoffman asked as he moved over to look a the monitors over Lawrence’s shoulder. Adelaide joined him on the other side.

“Ian.” Hoffman sat in the seat next to Lawrence while Adelaide continued to stand behind Lawrence, like she normally did. The three stared at the computer monitor, waiting for the test to begin.

“What the hell?” Ian shouted as he woke up, thrashing in his restraints, like everyone did. He was strapped down on a table, an examination table in one of the doctor’s offices he was inside of. Both his ankles and wrists were restrained by thick leather straps, impossible to get out of. That was the point, though. He didn’t need to get out of them in order to finish his game. “Where the hell am I?”

“Hello, Ian,” the distorted Jigsaw voice said as the television screen, sitting on a stand a few feet from where Ian was strapped down. “I want to play a game. You have never put anybody else’s life in front of your own, not even your young daughter’s, Malia. Tonight, you will be able to save her from the most life-threatening thing to exist in her life: yourself. You are strapped down to.” Then the tape was interrupted. Not by Hoffman, Adelaide, or Lawrence’s doing, but by Ian.

That was all of the recording that could be heard over the noise he began to make. Ian started yelling about how he shouldn’t be here, that it wasn’t fair for him to be locked away. This was the same stuff everybody always said. Ian believed he didn’t need to be there, he didn’t need to be tested. Lawrence sighed a little as he continued watching the screen.

“I’m a good father, you asshole!” Ian shouted over the tape. “I’ve always put her above myself! You don’t know me!”

Lawrence knew how this game was going to go. And he couldn’t find it in his heart to care. He had been right earlier to believe that he wasn’t going to change. Ian wasn’t going to make it.

The time began to tick down. Ian continued shouting out swears, promising to kill each of them, the ones who were in charge of putting him in this trap. Hoffman sighed, leaning back in his seat to cross his arms, rolling his eyes at the empty threats. Adelaide actually walked away to get more coffee, also unconcerned with Ian’s threats. Lawrence continued watching the screen, wondering if Ian was going to end up saving himself in the end, regardless of all their thoughts.

But no. Ian didn’t save himself. The clock go to zero seconds and the shotguns went off, shooting a hole through Ian’s head and two in either side of his chest. Lawrence leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, staring at the screen, waiting for Ian’s body to stop moving, attempting to fight for its life.

Ian hadn’t made it out alive, but he saved his daughter from a life of crime she was inevitably going to be apart of, or from being murdered. Or, well, Lawrence wasn’t sure where Malia might have ended up if Ian had made it out alive. Sure, she was going to be going into the system now- Ian wasn’t close to his family, and Malia’s mother wasn’t in the picture- as an orphan, but she was going to be away from all that bad stuff. Her father’s death had saved her. She might not know this, possibly never know this, but Lawrence did. It was better for the little girl. She would be safe. He would make sure of it. They always took care of the children. They were never in harm's way.

Once this was done, the body’s moving finally stopping and the blood continuing to drip on the floor beneath the motionless form, Hoffman pushed a button, moving the monitor to the next camera.

On this screen, Lawrence saw a young woman, about twenty-five years of age. She was seated in a chair, her hands locked in vices, raised to her sides. Her feet were stuck in place by the long nails sticking through the middles of her feet. Her head was locked in a strap that was connected to the seat. Across from her was an older man, around fifty, in the same position. 

The woman’s name was Joanna Gibson-Stapleton and the man was Father Grant Herb. She was a woman who was involved with a priest, Father Herb. She had seduced a man of the lord into both sleeping with her, and buying her all these extravagant gifts with money that wasn’t his own. Father Herb bought these gifts with the money he got from the church, in the collection pots. He also wasn’t supposed to do anything sexual, which made this situation worse.

But the situation got even worse than that. Father Herb lied to the church about everything that happened with Joanna when they heard something was going on, getting the bishop released of his duties by blaming it on him. So he was ruining that man’s life, his own, and his relationship with his Lord.

And it still somehow got worse.

Joanna was a married woman. But that wasn’t the worst part of cheating on her partner with a Catholic priest. She was married to a woman named Elizabeth Gibson-Stapleton. This woman was blind and got money for her disability that Joanna always spent on herself.

So this whole situation was a very complicated, messed up type of predicament that Lawrence could barely wrap his head around. But these people needed to prove that they could be better people.

Lawrence was never sure how this type of thing happened. He had cheated on his wife before, but that was different. It was with a woman he worked with. Joanna didn’t work with Father Herb. She wasn’t even Catholic. She was actually an Atheist. Elizabeth was Agnostic, so she didn’t go to that church. Lawrence had no idea how these people even met one another. There was no way, unless there was lying involved, which Lawrence wouldn’t put past Joanna.

As Lawrence was deep in thought about this, both Father Herb and Joanna woke up. They did the usual confused talk, asking where they were, how did they get there, why there were there in the first place. Lawrence was used to hearing all this, so he tuned them out. He had to do this sometimes, to disconnect with his surroundings in order to not show emotion toward the people in the games.

He began to think about Adam. Lawrence wasn’t sure if he was going to want to ever talk about what they were going to have to end up talking about some time. Lawrence knew he was going to have to pressure the younger man into talking about their relationship, their feelings, what was going to happen moving forward. He wasn’t ready to force Adam into doing this, talking, but he knew they were going to have to. Adam wasn’t going to do this on his own. Lawrence needed to know if Adam still felt this way about him, or if he had moved on and was happy in his new home, in Boston.

His new life.

Without Lawrence.

Maybe it was for the best. Maybe they needed to stay away from one another.

Lawrence’s thoughts were interrupted with the familiar click of the television screen coming to life. He redirected his attention to the room where the priest and his mistress were stuck in the chairs, to actually try to pay attention.

“Hello Father Herb,” the Jigsaw voice said as the screen cut from black to the red swirly-cheeked puppet. “Hello, Joanna. I want to play a game. You both have been unfaithful to those who you have claimed to have given yourselves up to completely. You have stolen from the innocent, and given yourselves over to the evil. Now it is your time to free yourself from these sins and move on to the light, to the good side. You are strapped to your seats by your hands, your feet stuck to the floor with nails, just like the man you have prayed to all your life, Father. Tonight, you will have to break free from your sins. In order to do this, you will need to get out of your restraints before your companion does. The same goes for you, Mrs. Gibson-Stapleton. If you want to live, you must give up the thing that it going to be the death of you. If you do not get out before the sixty seconds are up, this place will be your tomb. Go back toward the light, or let your sins break you. These are your choices”

Once the recording ended, the time began to count down. Both Joanna and Father Herb started shouting, her screaming at him to get her out, him trying to pray to his higher power to get himself out of the mess he put himself into. He realized his mistakes. She, on the other hand, had not.

The time continued counting down, but Lawrence couldn’t handle this, not right now. He couldn’t focus on the test, not with Adam down the hall from where he was seated.  
Lawrence stood, making both Adelaide and Hoffman look up at him.

“Where are you going, Larry?” Adelaide questioned.

“You guys have got this under control,” Lawrence answered without actually answering her question. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

Without waiting for anything else, Lawrence began to walk out of the room before he even finished speaking that last sentence.

He needed to talk to Adam, whether he wanted to or not. Unless he was asleep. Lawrence couldn’t disturb his rest. He was recuperating.  
Lawrence walked down the hall to the room where he and Adam had been asleep in a little while ago. He opened the door slowly, peering in to make sure the younger man  
wasn’t asleep.

And he wasn’t.

Adam was sitting up on the bed, staring down at his hand. This was in the same position that Lawrence had left him in about two and a half hours ago. It took a while for Ian to wake up, and even longer for Joanna and Father Herb to do so. But there he was, sitting up on the bed, staring in silence.

Lawrence noticed that Adam hadn’t moved when he walked in. He hadn’t gotten rigid with concern of who may have come into the room with him. Adam wasn’t moving at all. His hands didn’t move, his eyes didn’t move. It was as if he was stuck in the same place.

“Adam?” Lawrence asked softly, closing the distance between the two. Adam still didn’t move an inch. His body still didn’t go rigid, afraid of what was going to happen to him. Lawrence was growing concerned.

Maybe he was dissociating?

Of course that’s what he was doing. Adam had gone through so many traumatic experiences in his life, Lawrence was surprised this was the first time he was dissociating.

But it might not actually be his first time, Lawrence thought. Maybe this was a normal occurrence for Adam now. Maybe he dissociated all the time, after what happened in the bathroom. He thought he was in the room with a dead body, John’s body. He was stuck in a room with a man he was basically stalking for the past few days. He killed a man. He was locked in that room with the same man he killed for, well, Lawrence wasn’t sure how long Adam had been in there before John told Hoffman to take him out of there. But it didn’t matter. He was still traumatized by these events. Adam probably dissociated all the time. Lawrence didn’t like it.

“Adam?” Lawrence asked again softly, but a little louder, as he sat on the edge of the bed Adam was on. There was still no movement, so Lawrence reached over to touch the brunette’s arm. Adam continued staring down, but he came to his senses. He flinched a little away from Lawrence’s touch, finally picking his head up to look at the older man. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Adam said slowly, staring at Lawrence with unfocused eyes. He was definitely dissociating. “I, can, can I leave? Please?”

Lawrence didn’t know what to say. He thought of all the things he wanted to talk to Adam about, but now none of them were coming to mind. He was lost, just like Adam looked lost. He wanted to help Adam be okay, make sure he could cope with what happened to him, but he didn’t know what to say.

Adam wanted to leave.

And Lawrence wanted him to stay.

“I don’t think you should leave just yet, Adam,” Lawrence said after a moment of thought. Adam’s brown eyes stared up at Lawrence’s blue eyes in desperation now. “I know you want to leave, believe me. I get it. But you’re still healing. Your feet, you walked through broken glass. And the burns on your hands and arms. And then your hand: it’s completely broken, Adam. You need to stay here for a little while longer, until I know you will be okay. Alright?”

Adam didn’t respond right away. He broke eye contact with Lawrence, looking around the room that he knew he was going to be stuck in for a while, tears filling his eyes. He didn’t let them fall, but Lawrence’s chest hurt to see them there, knowing he was stuck, yet again, in a place he didn’t want to be. The time, though, the time was unknown. He knew he wasn’t leaving, and the sadness in his features showed Lawrence just how much he didn’t want to stay here.

“Look, Adam,” Lawrence said. He didn’t expect him to look, but Adam did. He blinked the tears away as they made eye contact once more. “I know you don’t want to be here. But I can’t let you go home just yet. But you don’t have to stay here, either. You can come stay at my home, with me. I know what you’ll need in order to heal, and you’ll probably be more comfortable there than you are here.”  
“You’re taking me home?” he asked, a little too quickly. He hesitated before adding, “Like, you know, to your house? I don't have to stay here?”

“If you want to, I’ll bring you there instead. But you’ll still have to stay there. You can’t go home just yet.”

“That’s fine. Can we go now? I don’t want to be here anymore. I, I want to leave.”

“Yes. Just, I’ll get you some other clothes to wear. Just stay here, okay?” He nodded quickly and Lawrence stood up. Before he left, he turned to look at Adam. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, Adam. I never wanted you to have to choose these things.” And with that, Lawrence went to tell the other accomplices what he was doing with Adam. There was a little smile on Adam’s face, Lawrence noticed, when he turned to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't have Lawrence and Adam do their talk, but the next chapter will be that, when they're at Lawrence's home.


	6. Staying Up All Night: Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter isn't that long. I also didn't really have Lawrence and Adam talk all that much. But the next chapter will be some more talking between the two. I also included a character from the new movie, Jigsaw, so it might be a spoiler, because I tell who it is. So just warning you, a new character is in it.

Everything was all set. Adam was staying with Lawrence while he healed. At Lawrence’s home. He couldn’t believe Hoffman and Adelaide hadn’t teased him about this. He figured they would mock his decision to bring Adam to his home while his feet healed from the broken glass, along with his hand mending after being crushed. But they hadn’t, and it surprised Lawrence. Maybe they realized Adam wasn’t a child and this wasn’t some kind of little one-sided crush. Adam liked him, too.

Maybe.

Probably not, though. Adelaide and Hoffman were probably going to be talking about it after Lawrence was gone. But he was okay with that. Adam would be safe, away from all of this Jigsaw stuff.

Lawrence brought Adam clothes and they left the compound/house where the Jigsaw trials were created in. The two walked out to a gray Sedan, which was one of Lawrence’s cars. He had two, but this was the one he used when he had to do these tests.

The drive was quiet. Lawrence thought about bringing up the tapes to Adam now, but he decided it would be best to wait. He kept glancing at Adam as he drove, watching the way his eyes traveled around their surroundings, watching the houses, buildings, and trees rush past as Lawrence drove. It was this childlike wonder that Lawrence found so endearing about Adam. He found something good in everything.

The two men arrived at Lawrence’s house about thirty minutes later, and he was giving Adam the tour to his new shelter for the time being. Lawrence showed Adam the kitchen, living room, den, basement, staircase to the attic, and the three bedrooms with bathrooms in two of them, indicating which one was going to be his as he motioned to his own across the hallway.

“So you don’t care that I’m staying at your house?” Adam questioned, still standing in the hall with Lawrence, between their bedrooms. They were across from one another. Lawrence felt it would be best to be closer to the younger man.

“I told you that it was fine,” Lawrence replied. “I know you would rather be here than back there, and I agree with you; you shouldn’t be there for longer than needed. And now, you don’t need to be there, not when there is somewhere else for you to be. Just go to bed, get some rest. I’ll get you some clothing for the next few days.”

When Lawrence began to turn to walk down the hallway, Adam stopped him by grabbing his left arm. Lawrence turned to look at Adam with a raised, questioning eyebrow. He wasn’t defensive, though. Lawrence was more startled than anything.

“Thanks, Lawrence,” Adam said in a quiet voice, releasing Lawrence’s arm when he spoke.

Lawrence smiled at the young man. “You’re welcome, Adam,” he responded. “If you get hungry, you can eat whatever is in the kitchen. I went to the grocery store this morning. And if you want anything specific, just make a list. I’ll go tomorrow after work. It’s not a long day. Just a meeting. I’ll be back around noon. I start at eight.” He wasn’t sure why he added the times. Maybe it was to let Adam know he wasn’t going to be here alone for a long time. It was more reassurance than anything. He needed to stop rambling, though. Lawrence felt like he got this way too much when Adam was involved, whether it be about him or to him.

Adam nodded, then went into the bedroom that was now his. For the time being, that is. He wasn’t going to stay forever. Lawrence knew this as he turned to walk down the hall once more after hearing the door close.

When he got to the kitchen, Lawrence reached over for the bottle of scotch and poured some into a glass. He drank all of it in one drink, then another glass of it. Lawrence sighed, leaning against the counter to pour his third glass. His life had just changed dramatically, in the matter of a few days. Well, it had been changing for the past few months, but still. It was even more dramatic over the past couple of days.

He was okay with the Jigsaw tests continuing, as oddly as that sounded. He was the one who was leading it, for the most part. There were the other accomplices, Hoffman and Adelaide, and then John’s first apprentice ever, Logan Nelson. This accomplice wasn’t present during many of the trials, because he wasn’t known to be apart of anything Jigsaw, and he wanted to keep it that way. But he still knew everything that went on. Lawrence always kept him updated.

People were still talking a lot about the Jigsaw case in the media, mostly because they were still happening, but also because they were just an interesting thing to be happening in the world, so that was something that hadn’t changed. And it most likely wouldn’t be changing anytime soon. Lawrence was used to this. But Adelaide was new, kind of. She had only been apart of this for about seven months, but she had already done about seven different tests on her own, ones that she made herself.

So having her in this was still somewhat new, after four years of having just Hoffman and Logan. But mainly just Hoffman, which grew tiring at times. The two men didn’t get along all that well, but they knew what they were doing was helping people’s lives, in some way, so they begrudgingly continued to keep up their professional relationship with one another.

The obvious thing that was stuck on Lawrence’s mind was the fact that Adam was alive. He couldn’t stop thinking about this. Adam was alive. It was so strange. They still hadn't talked about their relationship, if one could call it that, much to Lawrence’s disappointment. He just wanted to get the awkward conversation over. Lawrence wasn’t quite sure how to bring this up to Adam just yet, but he was still irritated that the talk hadn’t happened yet.

Perhaps Adam would just start the conversation and Lawrence wouldn’t have to figure this one out. Probably not, though.

“Uh, Lawrence?” Adam asked.

Lawrence looked up from where he was leaning against the counter, straightening up once he saw Adam standing in front of him. His muscles were sore. How long had he been standing there? Why wasn’t Adam asleep?

“Hey, Adam,” Lawrence said, placing the empty glass back down on the marble counter. He looked at the bottle and found that it was empty. How much of it was there when he poured the first glass? Half the bottle? Maybe a little less, Lawrence decided. “Are you okay? Why are you still awake”

“Yeah. I, I’m not still awake, Lawrence. It’s seven o’clock, though. Don’t you have to leave soon?”

“It’s seven?” Lawrence looked at the clock on the microwave. Sure enough, it was 7:02 AM. He sighed. How long had he been standing there? And how long was he thinking about Adam? All night? He needed to get this conversation over with. It was going to be the only thing Lawrence could think about until it just happened.

“Did you even sleep last night?”

“No. I guess not.” He placed the glass in the sink and the empty bottle in the garbage. Adam nodded a little as he walked over to the coffee maker, watching Lawrence clean up after last night. Lawrence watched him for a minute as he looked at the machine, then decided he needed to go and get ready for work and not just stand around, watching Adam.

Once Lawrence was finished with his shower and got dressed, he walked downstairs, back to the kitchen. Adam was leaning against the counter with a blue coffee mug in his hands. He was watching Lawrence, just like he was watching Adam.

“So do you always dress like a nerd?” Adam asked, breaking the silence lowering the cup from his lips.

“A nerd?” Lawrence questioned, eyes narrowing. This was something people had always said to him growing up. He thought it was done, though. Apparently not.

“Yeah. You have a sweater vest on, Lawrence. It’s nerdy as hell.” Lawrence had on a brown cashmere sweater vest over a white button-up with a red tie. Over this was a beige blazer. He had khaki pants on. Lawrence knew it was a lot of brown, but he liked the color. He seemed to be wearing it more and more.

Adam took another drink from his coffee cup before handing one, a green mug, to Lawrence. To his surprise, it had the vanilla coffee creamer in it. Lawrence owned other types, like French vanilla, hazelnut, and just original creamer. Somehow Adam chose the one he liked the most. He smiled a little. He wasn’t used to people doing this, except for Adelaide. It was, nice.

“It’s not nerdy, Adam,” Lawrence attempted to persuade, but Adam rolled his eyes, diminishing Lawrence’s attempt.

“Yes, it is, Lawrence. But it’s fine, ‘cause you pull it off well.”

Lawrence opened his mouth, ready to defend his outfit once more, but then closed it. “Um, thanks?”

Adam smiled, the first real smile Lawrence had seen from the young man. “You’re welcome, Lawrence. Anyway. I know you wanted to talk about... you know? But I don’t think we do. We don’t need to talk about it. I mean, you know how I feel from the tape, and I know from the way your, friends or whoever the hell they are, talked. So, we’re good. Maybe we should just go on a date. I don’t know. You wanna take me out for a nice candlelit dinner tonight? I don’t have any plans.”

Lawrence wasn’t sure how to respond. He hadn’t expected it to go this way. He expected this to be a lot more awkward. And a lot longer. “Okay. I’ll make a reservation while I’m at work. But we still need to talk about it, Adam.”

“I really don’t think we do, Lawrence. Now go to work. I’ll see you later. Also, can you bring home some fruit snacks?”

“Fruit snacks? What kind?”

“I don’t care. Any. Just fruit snacks.”

“Okay. I’ll bring you fruit snacks.” Lawrence hadn’t expected this to be the only thing Adam wanted. He thought some different types of drinks, maybe something other than tea and coffee, which was all Lawrence had. But no. The man wanted fruit snacks. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Larry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be their date. I don't know how long it will be, but I hope it'll be longer than this one. I just wanted to get this part out of the way.


	7. Lawrence's First Dinner Date: Adam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is about the date Adam and Lawrence go on together. There's a lot of dialogue in this one, because they finally talk about their time over the past five years.

The dinner reservation was set for 6:00 PM that night. Lawrence found this nice Italian restaurant that looked out to a lake that had a nice park next to it, surrounded by trees. It was a beautiful spot, and Lawrence hoped Adam agreed. He went there a few times, for dinners that his hospital had with the other oncologists that lived in the area.

After he got out of work, Lawrence bought Adam some clothes. He got the sizes from him as he drove to the store, then tried to pick out stuff that Adam would like. Clearly the two had different tastes in fashion, so Lawrence actually asked for help from one of the young women who worked at the store, so he could actually get something Adam would like. He still wasn’t sure Adam would like them, but he had to hope he would at least not hate them.

Before finishing buying Adam’s clothes, Lawrence also bought him some nicer clothes, more formal, to wear to their dinner date later that night. It was a dark blue button-up with a black tie, black blazer, and black dress pants, something he didn’t think Adam would complain that much about. He seemed to like darker colors. That’s the only thing he had seen him wearing.

Or at least he hoped he wouldn’t complain about the clothes. Lawrence had only seen him twice, ever, but both times, he had on a dark shirt. So he hoped he had chosen correctly. It wouldn't matter, though. Lawrence already bought them.

After this, Lawrence went to the grocery store to buy Adam his fruit snacks. When he got to the aisle, though, he found there were too many to choose from. Why was there so many different brands of fruit snacks? It was completely unnecessary. There were the kids’ fruit snacks, like Scooby Doo and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There were Mott’s Medleys fruit snacks, like the apple sauce. There was Welch’s, Kellogg’s, Dole, and different organic and generic ones. Lawrence hadn’t bought fruit snacks before. When he and Alison were married, she did the shopping. And Diana hadn’t even liked fruit snacks, so they were never in the house.

So Lawrence was lost. There were far too many to choose from, so he decided to get them all. Not all of them, exactly, because some of them had the exact same flavors, but he bought seven different boxes of fruit snacks. He wasn’t sure which was Adam’s favorite, so this was the only thing he could do.

He could have called, but he had already done this three times in the past hour, so Lawrence felt like he would be bothering Adam with all these questions.

After buying the clothes and fruit snacks, which took surprisingly longer than expected, Lawrence drove home in his black Chrysler, his second, public, car. As he drove, he saw a flower shop as he waited at a red light. Lawrence sighed, wondering if he should buy Adam flowers, or if that would be weird. Or if Adam would think it was lame. He was going to go with him thinking both, but more the latter.

Maybe next time.

When Lawrence pulled into the driveway, he got out, grabbed the bags from the backseat, and walked into the house. There were a few things that were different from this morning. There was music playing. It was something he had never heard. There was a lot of guitars and piano notes, and the lead singer sang the verse, “We’ll carry on. We’ll carry on. And though you’re dead and gone, believe me. Your memory will carry on. We’ll carry on.” It sounded like an emo band, most likely. He wasn’t up to date with music for younger people. But Lawrence wasn’t surprised Adam was listening to something like this: angst.

There was something else different about his house, too. Lawrence smelled something he hadn’t in many years: baked chocolate chip cookies.

Lawrence walked into the kitchen, placing the bags on the floor as he looked at Adam. He didn't turn, so Lawrence realized Adam hadn’t heard him come in.

Adam was standing next to the oven, placing the cookies on a plate while singing the next verse, “A world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams. Your misery and hate will kill us all. So paint it black and take it back. Let’s shout it loud and clear. Defiant to the end. We hear the call to carry on.” Lawrence stared in slight disbelief. Adam could bake cookies? He could cook at all? And he could sing? This all surprised Lawrence. It shouldn’t, but it still did.

Adam turned, jumping a little at the sight of Lawrence. “I didn’t know you got back,” Adam said, his cheeks flushed a little. “When did you get back? And how long have you been listening?”

“Not long,” Lawrence replied, placing the bag full of fruit snacks on the counter. Adam eyed the bag from across the kitchen. “I didn’t know which brand you liked, so I got different ones. Also, you have a nice voice.”

This made Adam’s blush darken. “I don’t have a good voice.” He crossed over to where Lawrence was standing, opening the bag to look at the different fruit snacks. “You could have gotten any of them. They’re all good. You didn’t have to get all of them.”

“I wasn’t sure. I don’t eat fruit snacks.”

Adam already had one of the boxes open, pulling out a little package of the snacks. He looked at Lawrence with wide eyes, then narrowed them. “What? You don’t eat them?”

“No, I never really have. You can bake?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess. I was bored and knew I probably shouldn’t leave here, so I decided to bake cookies. Do you like them, or do you not eat cookies?”

“Yes, I eat cookies, Adam. Who doesn’t eat cookies?”

“Who doesn’t eat fruit snacks?”

“Why are you being so defensive about fruit snacks?”

“Because. They’re great.” He opened another package of the little fruit-flavored gummies and ate all of them in one bite. He nodded toward the bags. “What’s in those?”

“Your clothes. I don’t know if you’ll like them, though.”

Adam walked over to where Lawrence had placed the bags on the floor and began to look through them. He looked satisfied with all of them, until he got to the clothes for the night’s activity.

This was when he looked up at Lawrence. “What’s this about?”

“Tonight. We’re going to a restaurant. You need to dress in semi-formal clothing.”

“Yeah, I don’t do that.”

“I’m well aware of that, Adam. I’ve seen the way you dress. But that’s what happens when you have a candlelit dinner. We should actually go get ready. The reservations are for six o’clock.”

“Wait. Reservations? How fancy is this place?”

“It’s semi-formal. Sort of fancy. Go get ready. We’re leaving in a half hour.”

“How far is it? I thought we were going to like, cook something here or order pizza and light candles.”

“Is that what you meant when you said candlelit dinner?” Adam shrugged a little. Lawrence sighed. “It’s about half an hour away from here. And you have to be early to these types of things. And no. I’m not going to cook and we’re not lighting candles and eating pizza. Now go on, get ready.”

Adam stared at Lawrence for a moment, his eyes narrowed in defensiveness. Why would he think that’s how their first date was going to go? Lawrence wasn’t going to let that happen. Once he looked away, Adam grabbed the bags up from the floor and walked up the stairs to his bedroom to put the clothes away and to get ready.

Lawrence walked over to the cookies, reaching over to pick one of them up. He bit into it, not sure if he expected it to be bad, but that’s the way he was leaning.

He was pleasantly surprised.

Apparently, Adam cook bake. Very well, actually. That was nice to know. Not that Lawrence was planning their future together or anything. Or maybe he was. He wanted his future to have Adam in it, but he didn’t know if that was going to happen. Lawrence could cook, too. He just rarely did it because of his daytime work and the nighttime work, the Jigsaw work.

After eating a second cookie, Lawrence walked off to his own bedroom to get ready for his date. He hadn’t expected it to happen so soon, the date. He thought they would talk, which would most likely turn to an argument. That’s just the way the two men seemed to be with one another. Then they would work through that, talk some more, probably argue again, but then figure it out in the end. They would decide if they were going to get together, or if Adam was going to go back to his home in Boston.

Either way, Lawrence knew it was going to be difficult to get to the end of this. It was going to probably be emotional, too.

Instead of wearing another sweater vest, partly because of what Adam had said earlier, Lawrence put on a dark forest green button up, black dress pants and shoes, a black tie, and a black blazer. He was fixing his hair in the mirror, hoping this night would go well. He always imagined what it would be like to go on an actually date with Adam, but never thought he would actually be able to fulfill that dream. Now he could.

When he walked out of his bedroom and down the stairs to wait for Adam in the kitchen, he found the younger man was already there, opening another package of fruit snacks from yet another box. He had the clothing Lawrence bought him on, and he found that he made a good decision. Adam looked good in the dark colors. He looked great.

Adam was leaning forward, against the counter on his elbows, so his body curved, his back arched slightly. Lawrence stared at him, not knowing how this night was going to end. Adam was very unpredictable. Were they going to decide they shouldn’t be together? Were they going to take this slow? Were they just going to end up having sex the second they got back to Lawrence’s home? All of these options were very probable, but Lawrence couldn’t decide which had the best chance of coming true.

Of course, he was hoping for the last option, but that didn’t mean it was going to happen. But he could definitely hope for it.

When Adam looked up, he stood up straight, staring at Lawrence, looking him up and down. It wasn’t the least bit subtle, Lawrence noted.

“Damn, Larry,” Adam whispered, putting the rest of his fruit snacks in his mouth.

“Thanks?” Lawrence asked, trying to suppress a smile. Adam just nodded a little, still looking at him. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah.” He reached over to pull another fruit snack out of yet another box he had opened. Lawrence realized he did good job with buying more than just one or two boxes. This guy could probably eat all seven of them in one sitting. Adam probably had done this before. Lawrence wouldn’t put it past him.

Lawrence motioned with his cane for Adam to lead the way out of the shingle style gray home. They went to his black Chrysler and got in.

“You’ve got two cars?” Adam asked, leaning back in the seat. He didn’t put his seat belt on. Lawrence stared at him, not moving the car, waiting for him to put the seat belt on. When he realized that’s why they weren’t moving, Adam put it on. “Why do you have two cars?”

“This one is my main car,” Lawrence replied as he began to drive to the Italian restaurant. He hadn’t been there for two years, but he loved the place. And he thought it would be a good place to bring Adam. He could get just about anything there to eat, and Lawrence didn’t know what he liked, so it was a good choice.

“What’s the other one for? Your nighttime activities?”

“Yes.”

There was a moment of hesitation before Adam asked, “Seriously?”

“Yes. I don’t want people to know what car I’m driving, to recognize me. It’s better that way.”

“It’s not like people see you, though. Right?”

“Normally, no. But I don’t want to risk it. Hence, two cars.”

Adam just nodded, looking out the window.

Lawrence drove in silence the rest of the way to the restaurant. Adam kept switching between the radio stations, pausing for about thirty seconds on each one, listening to a snippet of a song, then going to the next. Adam also continued looking out the window at the scenery.

This was another reason why Lawrence chose this restaurant. He knew that the surroundings were very different, going from urban to rural, on the way from his home. One moment, there’s tall corporate buildings, then there’s large houses, and then there’s just trees. It was a very beautiful, ever-changing area, and Lawrence knew Adam liked that type of stuff because of his interest in photography. That’s what he used to do for money. But Lawrence wanted him to enjoy this, just like Lawrence himself wanted him to enjoy this.

But there was that nagging feeling that something awful was going to happen. Lawrence wanted those thoughts to leave his head, but he couldn’t stop thinking about how many things could go wrong. He could say something and Adam could just get up and walk away. And there wouldn’t be much Lawrence could do, not in public.

And then there was the thoughts of them fighting. He didn’t want to have to worry about Adam yelling at him, or him getting too angry and yelling back. They could have a full-blown fight in this restaurant, and there wasn’t anything Lawrence could do about it, because of their personalities.

So this was what Lawrence was worrying about for the entire thirty-five minute drive.

When they arrived to the restaurant, Lawrence paid the valet and walked into the restaurant to be seated.

They were led through the restaurant of men and women dressed in nice clothing, walked up a set of stairs, and were brought out to the table Lawrence paid extra for. He wanted this to be an intimate experience between the two of them, and he knew the only way this was going to happen was if they were hidden away from everybody else.

Once seated and chose the wine and ordered their meals, Adam and Lawrence were left alone on the balcony, hidden from the rest of the restaurant, the rest of the world, with the large olive colored drapes in that hung in front of the glass French doors.

Lawrence was glad for the night. It was April, so it was still cool out, but not cold. There was a gentle breeze, ruffling Adam’s hair a little. The moon was at its waning crescent, so it was mostly there, but not completely, and it was Lawrence’s favorite phase of the moon. The stars twinkled in the dark velvety blue sky. The Deodar cedar trees lined the lake where a group of ducks were swimming around the edges, searching in the algae. There were some birds singing their songs in the trees, or while they flew away.

It was the perfect setting for tonight.

Lawrence actually chose a great place. He was proud of himself.

He looked at Adam and saw that same childlike fascination he admired so much as he looked around the little clearing that sat below them, to their right. Lawrence smiled as he watched the younger man. Adam was happy. Hopefully Lawrence would be able to keep him this way.

“Have you been here before?” Adam asked, still looking at the ducks. He hadn’t looked away from them for five minutes.

“Yes,” Lawrence answered. “A few years ago.”

“With Alison?”

Lawrence didn’t expect her to be brought up. “No. It was for a work thing.”

He nodded a little, continuing to stare down at the ducks. Their food came, and he smiled up at the waiter, thanking him. Lawrence noticed the way the waiter, Kevin, looked at Adam. He was an attractive young man. Obviously people would look at him like that.

But it bothered Lawrence a little. He wasn’t all that young anymore. Adam could be with any of those people. Why would he choose Lawrence when he could have anybody?

Lawrence always managed to sabotage almost everything in his life. Before John tested his will to be a better person, stop with the not taking others’ emotions into consideration, and just doing what he had to, not truly caring about them, that’s just how he was. Because of this, he ruined many relationships with others, whether they were family, friends, co workers, patients, or just acquaintances.

This was a little different, though. His jealousy was coming out, something that happened a lot back in med school, when his teachers and other doctors didn’t think he was the best, which he believed he was. So he ended up being cold toward people, not showing his jealousy, but being very standoffish.

It took him a while to stop being that way, but Lawrence was finally there.

Or at least he thought he was there.

But this, the way the waiter, Kevin, flirted with Adam when he brought the wine and the food, Lawrence felt that cold bitterness creeping back into him. He couldn’t return to that person. He didn’t want to be that person anymore.

“Are you alright?” Adam asked, disrupting Lawrence’s self-destructive thoughts.

“Yes,” Lawrence replied slowly, managing to keep the irritation from his voice. “I’m fine. So, should we talk about it?” Well, that’s one way to begin the inevitable conversation.

“I already said we didn’t have to. I meant that.” He ate more of his pasta. It was a Creamy Bacon and Butternut Squash risotto. Lawrence had ordered the Caprese Chicken and Orzo skillet.  
“I remember you saying that. But Adam, I feel that it is necessary to see where we stand.”

Adam took a drink of the Sangiovese wine from his glass, looking back out at the small woods of cedar trees that surrounded the restaurant. He didn’t say anything, so Lawrence did.

“I thought you were dead for the past five years. But then I find out you didn’t die. I wanted to try to help you, start something with you, a new life, but you were... I thought you were dead, and you were truly gone. And now, I mean, you’re alive. Obviously, you’re alive. And that’s great, but I know you probably have a nice life back in Boston, and probably want to go back there. You don’t want to stay here with me.”

Instead of responding, Adam scoffed a little.

Lawrence was getting frustrated. Adam wasn’t even trying to talk to him. He wasn’t even looking at him.

“Adam,” Lawrence tried again. “I know you moved on with your life, and you’re happy and have a new, well, life, back in Boston. And you don’t want to come back here. Why would you? This place, it’s where you were taken from, forced into a hot room with a man you didn’t know, then forced to kill somebody. You were locked away for a while, and then, you were told you had to start your life over. You couldn’t choose not to. There was no other way. You had to leave.”

Once again, Adam didn’t respond. He ate another bite of his risotto, continuing to not make eye contact with Lawrence.

“You have a better life in Boston, and I’m fine with that. I know you want to go back there. Why would you want to come back here? Why would you want to stay here with somebody you’re not even listening to?”

Adam turned to look at Lawrence finally, his eyes narrowed. For the first time, Lawrence noticed the tears in his eyes.

“You don’t think I want to be here with you?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper. There was something in Adam’s voice that Lawrence didn’t want to hear: pain. “You think I have some great life back in Boston without you? It’s terrible there. I hate it. I tried to make friends. They all suck. They’re boring, and I can’t tell them one thing about myself. I have to lie, make things up about my past. The man with the scar on his face, he threatened me. He told me he was going to kill me if I ever tried to talk about the bathroom. He said he would shoot me in the head if I ever tried talking to you again. But I had to see you. I came back. I followed you for three days. You seemed, happy? I don’t know. But you were doing okay. That’s all that mattered.”

He paused, taking a long drink from his wine glass, finishing it. After, he continued, “I never wanted to leave you. After I found out what you did for me, I wanted to thank you. I wanted to tell you how I felt. I wanted to talk to you about what it was like being locked in that bathroom for five weeks. It was five weeks that they had me locked away in there. Five whole weeks. With you thinking I was dead. That woman, I don’t know who she was, came and tried to kill me. I think it was a mercy killing, but hell. I don’t know. She put a bag over my head, and I fought back. I hit my head on the toilet, and everything went black.”

Once more, he stopped to drink more wine he poured for himself. Again, he finished it in one drink. “I woke up in the room I was in, after the second, game,” he said bitterly. “I wanted to leave, but Jigsaw, John, whoever the fuck he was, talked to me, telling me what you did. The scarred man was there, listening, along with some other man. I don’t know who he was. But they threatened me with you, saying they would kill both of us if I didn’t stay away, begin a new life away from here. Without you. So I did. It was the hardest thing for me to do, Lawrence. I hated myself, because I knew you probably felt awful. You thought you were the reason I was dead, and I didn’t tell you any differently. I couldn’t tell you any differently.”

“But when I got to Boston,” he continued, “trying to move on with my life, I realized I wouldn’t be able to do it. I couldn’t do it, not without you. I don’t know how, but in those six hours of being locked in that room with you, I found myself, I don’t fucking know. Falling in love with you? You kept me calm. You, you saved me. You saved me from that hellhole. You saved me from myself. After you crawled away, and I was there alone, I thought about what it would be like to be with you. I could start over, and have somebody who actually knew me, known what I had been through. I wouldn’t have to do anything alone. I would have you.”

“And I was happy,” his voice was getting sadder as he continued to speak. “I was happy with those thoughts. We would be together. I wasn’t sure if you were staying with your wife. Hell, I didn’t care. Just the thought of having you in my life was good enough. We didn’t have to be together, in that sense. Just having you there would be enough. But I didn’t get that. I wouldn’t be alone, trying to make ends meet if we were together. I would be able to try and have a happy life. I wouldn’t be pathetic. I would have somebody who actually gave a shit about me, for once in my life. But then we were whisked away from one another. I thought about you all the time. I knew my life would be better with you in it, but you couldn’t be in it. I couldn’t have you…”

Adam trailed off for a moment, but then continued, “But it’s different now. I know you feel similarly about me, so I didn’t think we would need to talk about this. I hate my life, Lawrence. I just fucking hate it. I know I’m not supposed to, because Jigsaw let me live, or whatever. But, I hate it. I needed you in it. I need you in my life, Lawrence. I don’t want to go back to Boston. I want to stay here. With you. I never want to leave you again.”

Lawrence wasn’t sure what to say. There were so many things he could comment on. Five weeks? Adam was locked in that bathroom, with the man he killed, for five weeks? In the dark? Alone? It was terrible. And he hated his life? How could he hate it? Adam got away. He was free. There was nothing holding him here.

Except for Lawrence.

He felt bad that this was what was keeping Adam from moving on. But Lawrence understood this, because it’s the same way he felt. He couldn’t move on and be happy with his life, not without Adam.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Lawrence said after a moment of letting all of this sink in. Adam looked up at Lawrence with sad, dark eyes. “I don’t want you to leave me, either, Adam. My life went to hell when I thought you were dead. When I saw your body, or rather, that body, there, it reminded me of the person I wasn’t able to save. But I, it turns out I did save you. And I’m sorry they threatened you. That’s how they are. I’ve tried to change them, but there’s no doing it. But you don’t have to go back to Boston, Adam. You can stay here with me.”

“Really?” he asked, eyes widening a little, with the sadness Lawrence didn’t want him to feel anymore, finally beginning to leave his features.

“Of course. I don’t want you to leave, Adam. I wanted to start over with you, too. You made me realize I couldn’t stay that cold, uncaring person anymore. I wanted to save you from that, and that made me want to keep others safe, happy. You made me a better person.That’s all I’ve ever wanted from you, Adam.”

“I feel like you’re the only one who is going to be able to make me feel that way, Lawrence.”

“I’m fine with that. I just want you to be happy.”

Adam smiled, that sweet, genuine smile as the two sat together in silence once more. Adam put his hand over, reaching for Lawrence’s hand. He placed it on the table, gently taking Adam’s hand in his own.

They sat like this for a while, eating the rest of their food in the serene silence.

Once they were done, Adam asked, “Do you know what would make me happy right now?”

“What?” Lawrence asked, almost warily. The way he asked that made him a little anxious, but it was a good anxiousness.

“Going back to your house and doing something that I’ve wanted to do since I took that first picture of you in the hotel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So obviously this didn't happen, with Adam's new life. Because he's dead. But this is what I feel like would have happened if he hadn't died and actually got away. Also, I don't want to write anything sexual, so that's not probably ever going to happen. I'll just insinuate it.


	8. The Morning After: Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is somewhat short, but the next one will probably be a little (or a lot, I'm not sure yet) longer. It's more of a setup to the next game of Jigsaw's accomplices.

Lawrence woke up in a blissful haze. It was the following day, the morning after Lawrence and Adam’s first date. It went well, for the most part. Sure, there were some snags, but other than that, it was good. They had talked, Adam basically cried, which made Lawrence feel bad, but they worked through it, actually had their conversation, and they came back to Lawrence’s house.

Oh right. And they had sex.

Lawrence hadn’t thought it was going to happen that first night after they talked and went out on a date. He thought maybe they would take it slowly, but it hadn’t gone the way he planned. And it turned out to be wonderful. Maybe somethings just shouldn’t happen according to plan.

He had just gotten out of the shower and finished getting ready. He was tying one of his shoes, then putting on the prosthetic leg. Adam was still sleeping on the bed, his bare back uncovered by the blankets. He looked soft, pale. Warm. Lawrence stared at him for a moment, debating on whether or not he should wake him up to tell him goodbye.

He decided against it. Adam needed to sleep. Adam needed his rest. His hand was still broken, obviously, and Lawrence noticed the way he looked in discomfort last night. He would talk to Adam later, after work.

Driving to work, Lawrence didn’t notice a thing. Normally, he saw people walking their dogs, or the children waiting for their school buses. But not today. He was still elated from his date with Adam. It hadn’t been exactly the way he always wanted it to be, but it still happened. Lawrence was still able to go out with Adam. He was thinking about when they could do this again. Where would he bring him this time? A different restaurant? A different type of date? He wasn’t sure yet. There were far too many possibilities.

After he parked, Lawrence finally began noticing people. He saw the secretaries in the front waiting room, the patients waiting in the same spot. When he walked down the hall and into his office, Lawrence sat at his desk and began his morning routine. He went through messages, replying to patients or their family members, other doctors, a few nurses, and a couple of new patients he would be seeing in the upcoming weeks.

It was a pretty normal day, up until his phone began to ring. It was almost 11:00 AM. He didn’t have any phone calls scheduled for this time. Who could this be? Then he realized it was not the phone in his office, or his main cell phone, but the phone he used during the Jigsaw tests, the one he communicated with the other accomplices on. What were they going to say? He was actually happy. Why did they have to call today, of all days?

The caller id said Hoffman. Great, what was he calling for? Lawrence didn’t enjoy talking to him in person, much less on the phone.

“Hello?” Lawrence answered the phone on the seventh ring.

“Gordon,” he replied shortly, “we’re doing another test. Tomorrow, but we’re starting it tonight. Nelson’s going to be there. We all are. Bring the kid.”

“What are you talking about? There’s nothing planned for tomorrow. Logan’s going to be there too? What kid? Adam? He’s not a kid, Hoffman.”

Lawrence heard a heavy sigh on the other end of the line. “Bring him. This is a bigger one.”

“Okay. I still don’t remember anything being planned for tomorrow. But goodbye, anyway.”

He didn’t get a response, just the dull sound of the line being disconnected. Now it was his turn to sigh.

What was going to be happening tomorrow? Hoffman never called Lawrence while he was at work, or at all, so it meant this was going to be important. Adelaide was normally the one who called Lawrence. Also, Logan didn’t show up in person for many of the tests, so it was bigger than Lawrence could even imagine. And why would he need to bring Adam? Did Hoffman not trust him being left alone at Lawrence’s home? Because Lawrence trusted Adam. He already said he knew he shouldn’t go anywhere, anyway. He said it himself.

Lawrence sighed once more, leaning back in his seat, anxious about what was going to happen tonight. He knew it would be an intense night if all four of the accomplices were going to be there, together. Sometimes they didn’t work well with one another, but knew they all were a team. But still, that hardly ever happened. He was trying to think of who could possibly be the person- most likely people if they were all going to be a part of this- that would be tested the following night. Was it somebody they all knew? Perhaps, but Lawrence doubted it.

So this was all he could focus on throughout his day at work.

“Hello?” Adam asked about two hours later. Lawrence called him to tell him about what was happening. “Absolutely not. I’m not going back there, Lawrence. You said I didn’t have to.”

“I know, Adam,” Lawrence attempted to calm him down, “but something big is happening. Hoffman didn’t tell me everything, which he never quite does. But I’m going to need to be there, and you’ll need to be there, also. I’ll make sure none of them talk to you, even go around you. You can stay in that room, the one you woke up in. You’ll be fine.”

“No. I said no, Lawrence. You said I didn’t have to go back there, Lawrence. I’m not going back. Tell Hoffman no.”

Lawrence sighed softly, suppressing a scoff, not wanting to deal with this right now. “Look, Adam. I can’t do that. This is going to happen whether we want it to or not. We both have to go there. Hoffman doesn’t take no for an answer, anyway. And it’s not like I have any other options. All of us need to be there for this, apparently.”

“I don’t want to go back there, Lawrence.”

“I know, Adam. But there’s nothing I can do about it. Nothing is going to happen to you, though. I promise.”

“I feel like you sometimes make promises you can’t keep.”

And that was the end of the conversation. Adam hung up on him.

Lawrence sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He woke up so happy, and all that was gone, the moment Hoffman called him. He was making Adam do something he didn’t want to do. He was going to have to do a test that he wasn’t sure who the people were. He didn’t know what the traps were. He didn’t know why they were being tested. He didn’t like being in the dark like this. Lawrence was annoyed with the world today.

As the day went on, his irritation grew. He had a few people cancel their appointments, then found out he had seven new patients for the upcoming week. One of his colleagues were going on vacation for a few weeks, so he was going to have to cover his work. So this meant he had to learn all of her patients, which meant six new people on top of the nine- no,sixteen- he already had. Of course Lawrence liked his profession, but sometimes, there was just too much going on. It’s not like he couldn’t handle it, but sometimes it tired him out. He wasn’t in his early thirties anymore.

He was sitting in his office in the dark, with only a lamp on around four o’clock. His computer was open in front of him, turned on, but he wasn’t doing any of the work he was supposed to be doing. There was far too much on his mind now to concentrate on any single thing. Work. His other work. Adam. There was too much to think about.

So he left.

Lawrence could do this whenever he wanted, because he didn’t have an actual set schedule, so he just left. He didn’t have an actual boss, so there was nobody there who could stop him.

While driving back to his house, Lawrence got stopped at a train. It went on for what felt like twenty minutes, which honestly, it could have been twenty minutes. Those freight trains could last a long time. But today wasn’t the day Lawrence wanted to deal with something like this, so he needed to get out of this state of mind. He needed this frustration to pass.

When he finally arrived home, almost thirty minutes later than normal, Lawrence found Adam sitting on the couch, staring at the television. He had one of the boxes of fruit snacks next to him, resting his broken hand on a pillow. Lawrence looked at the screen and found that Adam was watching Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. It was the part where they were attacking the playground. Lawrence always found this scene to be fascinating.

Instead of saying anything to him, Lawrence walked over to the couch and sat next to Adam, leaving a little space between the two men. Adam shifted a little closer to him, reaching over to hold Lawrence’s hand.

“I’m sorry,” Lawrence began, but Adam shook his head.

“I get it,” he replied, not looking away from the television. “I know you have to do what they say. You all have to listen to each other. That’s what Jigsaw’s all about, right? Following the rules?”

“Well, yes, but I know I shouldn’t make you go there tonight. I don’t know how long the test is going to last. It’s not supposed to start until tomorrow.”

“Then why do we have to go there tonight?”

“We need to prepare for it.”

Adam nodded in response, eating another little yellow lemon shaped fruit snack. He continued watching the movie, resting his head on Lawrence’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything else, and neither did Lawrence.

The two sat like this for the rest of the movie, watching in silence, holding hand. Lawrence wasn’t sure what was going to happen when they arrived to the abandoned studio where they worked, but he knew it was his life and he had to do it. All of this: it was his life now. He was an accomplice to one of the biggest “serial killers” that ever lived. And he finally had the man of his dreams. That made it so much better.

Maybe his life wasn’t as bad as he originally thought.


	9. Preparation: Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the setup to the next Jigsaw game that I've been planning. It explains the people who are going to be in the game, and has some more Adam/Lawrence angst, which is always nice. I'm also including the new guy from the Jigsaw movie, Logan Nelson, more in my story.

Lawrence and Adam arrived at the compound a few hours later that evening, after eating dinner and watching Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. When he walked through the door that was located at the back of the building, away from the streets and cameras, he found Logan, Adelaide, and Hoffman already standing together, talking. Lawrence wasn’t sure what they were talking about and why he wasn’t included in it. Did it even have anything to do with him? He wasn’t sure, but he was still slightly offended to not be included.

After being interrupted, all three of the other accomplices looked up when they heard the metal door slam shut. Adelaide smiled at Lawrence, Hoffman scowled a little with mild annoyance, and Logan didn’t really change his demeanor, like he never did.

“So this must be Adam,” Logan said as the two joined the others. He smiled warmly at the youngest man in the room. Adam didn’t return the warmth. “Hello. I’m Logan. You’ve already met Adelaide and Hoffman.”

“I didn’t know their names,” Adam replied shortly, an almost coldness in his tone. This was all he said, though. He was standing a little further from the group, slightly behind Lawrence.

“Don’t worry. They’re not going to do anything else to you. We just didn’t want you running off anywhere.”

“Sure.”

He wasn’t surprised at all by Adam’s attitude. He had been put into different traps by people who worked with Jigsaw. He was locked away, and partly rescued, by Hoffman. Adam was stuck in this place with people who designed traps specifically to break him down, hurt him, and the people he once cared for. Lawrence honestly didn’t blame him in the least.

Lawrence looked at Adam, who was staring off at the wall, opposite him, to Adam’s right. There was nothing there, yet he wouldn’t look at the others, not even Lawrence. He suppressed a sigh as he turned to look back at the first accomplice. “Do you…?” Lawrence trailed off as Adam just walked away. It was in the direction of the room Lawrence previously indicated Adam was going to be staying in. With Adam gone, he let the sigh he had been holding out.

“So why is he still alive?” Hoffman asked, drinking some of his coffee. He always seemed to be drinking the stuff.

“He didn’t deserve to die,” Logan explained, motioning for the others to follow him over to one of the long work benches. “Just like I wasn’t meant to die. John decided this. You know that. We’re both alive because it’s what John wanted. And he didn’t want us to be tested again.” Logan made eye contact with Lawrence as he said that last part.

Hoffman scowled once more, placing his cup down on the table. “So who are these people?” He knew Logan agreed with Lawrence about Adam’s second test. But Hoffman didn’t want to test anybody right now, their patience this time, so he tried to move forward in the night’s activities.

“They’re a group of college kids that have been given a chance to do great things, yet always do the wrong one. Some are worse than others, while others are just the stereotypical college kid.”

Lawrence reached down to pick up one of the tan file folders, opening it as he did. Hoffman and Adelaide picked up one of the remaining five each. Inside was an image of a young woman, twenty-three years of age. She had bright red curly hair, brown eyes, and a sweet smile. It said she was going to a culinary school. Her name was Rose Kurtyka. He looked through the images and was disturbed at what he found. Inside were different images of her cooking, but it wasn’t just normal food. There were animal carcasses on the table. Not like chickens or pigs, but cats and rabbits, and possibly an array of rodents. There was also a bone that looked far too big to be an animal’s bone.

He put the folder back down in disgust, picking up another one. This one was of another young woman, by the name Francine Rogers. She had blonde hair and green eyes, freckles, also twenty-three years old, but she didn’t have that sweet smile Rose had. Instead, she looked, well, emotionless. There was this blankness in her eyes Lawrence had never seen in somebody so young. Or anybody, for that matter. Her file said she was going to school to be a lawyer. She had done a few sit-ins with some crooked lawyers, and let four murders and two rapists go. Apparently, one of the rapists was her brother, which made matters that much worse. Family ties didn’t matter: rapists should be punished, in jail, or something worse.

After picking up the third file, Lawrence found the first young man, twenty-one years old. His name was Nicholas Jones. He had dark features, dark skin, but he looked like possibly the brightest person Lawrence had ever seen. He was going to a veterinary technician program. He seemed like he shouldn’t be here, in a Jigsaw game, but that’s how a lot of people looked. When Lawrence read the rest of his file, he found that Nicholas wasn’t who Lawrence originally expected him to be. He stole different drugs from the veterinary clinic he was shadowing at, got arrested for other illegal substances, and had killed seven dogs, four cats, two rabbits, and a turtle while at the clinic from misdiagnosis. This type of thing happened sometimes, but it was proven that Nicholas knew he was giving them the wrong drugs, killing them on purpose, but the vet covered it up. Who would kill innocent animals?

The fourth file was of a girl named Kristy Robinson. She had strawberry blonde hair, light eyes, and pale skin. She was in an IT program for Microsoft. When she was a senior in high school, three years prior, she said she wanted to help the world as her senior quote. Most people said something like this, but Kristy seemed like the girl who would actually make a difference. But this apparently didn’t include everybody. Kristy was working on different software projects for Microsoft, or at least that’s what she said she was doing. She was actually creating viruses, shutting down different Planned Parenthood places, making it impossible for the women to get abortions there. She was one of those hardcore Christians who thought abortion was a sin. Lawrence felt like it was the person’s choice, and nobody else’s, but his opinion didn’t matter in this. Kristy’s opinion was part of the reason why she was here, because of what she had done with her opinion. What she did was wrong; many women were hurt because of this. Planned Parenthood wasn’t just for abortions. They were also there for all different types of female health needs, and those women hadn’t been able to get the treatments they needed. It was just wrong.

The second to last file was of another young man, twenty-four years old. His name was Michael Smith. He was lanky, light hair, dark eyes, and got a scholarship for basketball. This wasn’t surprising to Lawrence: Michael had the athletic build. But, just like so many other athletes, there were different drugs Michael was abusing. Not just steroids, but also cocaine, marijuana, and acid. Lawrence couldn’t understand how he had been able to do some many different types of drugs together without people noticing. He lied about these things, though, forcing others to do the drug tests, which Lawrence didn’t know how they could possibly do that. There was no way for people to sneak in urine samples, or even blood samples, if necessary. But then there were times when he paid people off, using his father’s money. So Michael was one of those people. These kinds always made it far in these games, because they hurt and used others to get ahead, just like they did in life. They didn’t deserve to live.

Lawrence picked up the last folder, belonging to a twenty year old man named Andy Raymond. Andy had tanned skin, dark brown eyes covered by black thick rimmed glasses, and a little scar underneath his eye. Lawrence flipped through his file, reading the different things this one had done. How could he have possibly done so many bad things by the age of twenty? Andy apparently was in school to be a teacher, and was shadowing at a preschool. He seemed pretty solid, not a bad guy, except for the fact he was sleeping with the mothers of the children. And not just one or two of them: fourteen of the mothers. He was blackmailing them, taking their money. The only good thing about him was that he seemed to care about the children. At least Lawrence hoped that part wasn’t a facade.

When the accomplices were done reading the files, Lawrence looked toward the clock. “Have you gotten them yet?” he asked. They had been reading the files for almost half an hour. They needed to know these kids, try to memorize everything they could about them. Lawrence still wasn’t sure why this was so important to Logan. Why was he here? Did he know any of these people? Or was he going to start physically joining the Jigsaw games again, like he had at the beginning? He couldn’t be sure. But Lawrence would be okay with Logan staying around longer. He sometimes liked the man more than Adelaide and Hoffman. Especially Hoffman.

“That’s what we’re about to do,” Logan answered. “You should stay here with Adam, so he doesn’t get into anything he shouldn’t get into. He could get hurt.”  
“Hurt,” Hoffman scoffed. Logan gave him a look before Lawrence was able to react.

Lawrence nodded rather than saying anything, slightly annoyed by Hoffman still, and the other three got their robes or cloaks, the pig masks, the sedatives, and were on their way to get the five test subjects.

Once they were gone, Lawrence walked out of the room and down the hall to where Adam was supposed to be. He hoped he was actually in there. The door was shut, but he noticed a light coming out from underneath the door. He reached for the doorknob, hoping Adam was here and hadn’t run off somewhere. Lawrence didn’t want to try to find him in this place. It was far too big. But he wanted Adam to be alright, but he was more concerned with Adam actually being in the room.

“I don’t want to talk to any of you,” Adam said once the door was open. He hadn’t looked up to address the person, though. Lawrence was relieved he was actually here. “No offense, though. Except for the one man. I don’t know, Hoffman? I don’t like you. Or him, if you’re not him. Whatever.”

Lawrence found him sitting on the bed Lawrence had woken up in a few days ago, holding a large book. It was of this photographer, Wittner Fabrice. He was a street photographer, or at least that’s what the cover of his book said. Lawrence hadn’t heard of this photographer, but he didn’t know the names to many, if any, that is. He didn’t know a lot about artists. This was Adam’s thing, though. He loved art. Lawrence knew he was going to have to learn more about art, so that he could actually have conversations with Adam about them. He would like that.

“It’s me, Adam,” Lawrence said as he walked over to sit in the chair next to Adam’s bed after closing the door to the room. He looked up from his book to Lawrence. “How are you doing?”

“Eh, I don’t know. It’s not terrible, I guess. I still don’t want to be here, though.” He closed his book, turning toward Lawrence. “I don’t like the Hoffman guy, though.”

“Well, nobody really does. And he doesn’t really like you, either.”

“Why though? I didn’t do anything to him.”

“I know. I think it’s because John let you go, which he hasn’t done that to almost anybody, ever. Maybe one or two people total. He thought it wasn’t right, that you weren’t actually tested.”

“But I went through the other ones. And I made it out. He still looks at me like I shouldn’t be alive.”

“I’m not sure that will ever change, to be honest, Adam. That’s just the way Hoffman is.”

Adam nodded a little, looking toward the floor. “So has it started yet?” This came out quieter.

“No. Well, sort of. The others went to get the people who are being. They’ll be back in a little while. Why?”

“I don’t know. I just, do you ever feel bad or regret the things you’ve helped with here?”

“Sometimes. There are some people who I feel don’t belong here, which the others also agree on, but it’s necessary at times. Sometimes, like the case with you and me, there are people that are needed to push the other person forward, keep the games or tests moving. That was you, for me. And that was Alison, for me, also. But there’s been other spouses that were placed in traps, which inevitably died because the person being tested didn’t complete it, or failed their test. Those people didn’t deserve to die. They were innocent. So yes, I do regret some of these things, but overall, I still feel like it has helped some people’s lives. Of course there are people who hate it, but it’ll still help them in the long run.”

“Have you ever heard somebody specifically say that, either hate it or glad it happened?”

“Which do you want first? Because there are many examples for both.”

“The hating one, I guess.”

“Yes, okay. So, there’s meetings that are held for people who have been tested. Some people show up for actual therapy while others go to express their outrage at Jigsaw. Simone, this woman, was in a trap with one of her coworkers. They gave out loans to people they knew shouldn’t have any because they couldn’t handle them and pay them back, but the two still got their commissions, so they didn’t really care about ruining the other people’s lives. So the test, they had these metal helmet-type things on their head that had drills poking into their temples. If they didn’t weigh the scale down enough, the drills would go through their skulls. Basically, they had to cut off their body to weigh down the scale enough to release the mechanism. She ended up cutting her arm off and was mad about it. I guess I was mad about my foot, but I was still the one who did it; I accepted it. Simone didn’t accept it. I’m still not entirely sure she does.”

“And now to the people who have found their tests a good thing,” Lawrence continued. “There was another woman who was at the same meeting as Simone. Her name’s Sidney. She was in a trap, hanging over a bunch of upturned lawn mowers, their blades rotating at the highest setting. She was in this trap with her abusive boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, that is. I’m not sure. They were one of those on-again-off-again type of people. But anyway, he ended up letting go after the two fought and tried to push the other one off. She got away from him, so she was happy to be able to move on with her life. He used to threaten to kill her when they broke up.”

“It’s sad that sometimes people have to go through something like that to get away from people like that.”

“Yes, it is. But that’s the way a lot of people are. They need something drastic to get them away from certain things, or people, that are hurting them, ruining their lives. It’s kind of like you and your father.”

Adam had been looking at the wall the headboard of the bed was resting on, not looking at Lawrence as he listened to Lawrence talk. Now, his eyes were on Lawrence. They narrowed a little. “What do you mean?”

“I, it just seemed like he wasn’t a great father and didn’t care that much about you, Adam. Maybe it’s better that he...”

“That he what? That he’s dead? That he died in front of me? That he was poisoned in front of me, because I couldn’t save him? That he died in front of me? Is that better?”

“Look, Adam. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, sometimes it’s better to not have the people who have hurt you in the past to still be present in your life.”

“So it’s better that he died because I couldn’t save him? And that he died in front of me, and all of you?”

“It’s not that you couldn’t save him, Adam…”

“But I didn’t save him, Lawrence. He was poisoned with those stupid little fucking needles, right in front of me. He blamed me. He died because of me.”

“He didn’t die because of you, Adam…”

“Yes. He. Did. Lawrence! My father died because I couldn’t save him. Are Mackenzie and Alison even okay? Are they even alive?”

“Yes, Adam. They’re fine. They were brought to the hospital and Mackenzie was released this morning. They’re okay.”

“Well, that’s good. At least I didn’t kill everyone that night.”

“You didn’t kill anybody that night, Adam.”

“Yes, Lawrence. I, I fucking let him die. I could have pulled those last three damn needles out faster. I could have done it. But I didn’t do it.”

“Look, Adam. You didn’t get them out in time. That’s, it’s not the worst thing that has ever happened in one of these traps. A lot of people have died from a lot less in a lot more painful way.”

“But I let him die.”

“You didn’t, though, Adam.”

“I let him die, Lawrence!”

Adam was staring up at Lawrence, not breaking eye contact now. His brown eyes stare into Lawrence’s blue ones, unblinking. He was holding back tears, Lawrence noticed. What was he trying to say? He didn’t just let his father die. Lawrence watched Adam try to get all the hooks and needles out of his father in the time allotted. Adam tried to save his father, but there just wasn’t enough time. He just ran out of time.

“What do you mean, Adam?” Lawrence questioned after a moment. “You ran out of time.”

“No, I could have done it,” Adam said. He finally broke the eye contact, looking down at his hand that was still wrapped up. Soon, he was going to need a cast. That was going to be on it for weeks.

“You tried to do it, though. You just ran out of time.”

“The time started before I started pulling them out.”

“You were still listening to your father. You were still talking about what was going on. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes, Lawrence, it was my fault. I hesitated.”

“Everybody hesitates. I did, when I was supposed to shoot you from the beginning. I’ve watched countless people in these situations. They never start right at the beginning. There’s always that moment of hesitation. It’s normal in this environment.”

“No, Lawrence. You don’t understand. I... I. He hurt people. A lot of people. Me. My mom. He hurt everybody around him, not just the people he knew. That he was supposed to care about. And he was still hurting them, until the day he died.”

Lawrence stared at Adam in silence, not knowing what he should say, or if he should even say anything. Adam had stopped talking, but there was more he wanted to say, so Lawrence didn’t begin to speak just yet. He wanted Adam to get everything out. Lawrence didn’t want him to bottle all these emotions up.

“I wanted him to die,” Adam quietly admitted. “All those years, all those painful memories, the scars. I wanted them all to stop, for everybody. And they did. He, his breathing stopped. Nothing’s gonna happen anymore.”

He still wasn’t sure what to say. Adam just confessed to Lawrence he let his father die. Sometimes this happened, but Lawrence still wasn’t sure what to say about this. Adam’s father was a bad man. He went to jail for robbery, drug dealing, domestic violence, and some other things Lawrence couldn’t remember. He was the typical bad man that tended to die in these tests. Robert Faulkner-Stanheight was no different than those men. He wasn’t a good person. He didn’t deserve to live. He took his life, and others’ lives, for granted.

Lawrence just wasn’t sure how he was supposed to tell Adam this.

“It’s okay, Adam,” Lawrence finally spoke softly, reaching to touch the younger man’s arm. Adam looked up, tears filling his eyes once more. Or they had never left, Lawrence wasn’t sure. “I know the type of person he was. I know what he did. And, well, people like that don’t live life the way they should. And that’s what John was trying to prove to people. They need to live their life to the fullest, and be the best person they could possibly be. And your father, he wasn’t one of those people. Even if it wasn’t you in the test with him, and it was just him in his own test, he still wouldn’t have made it out. He’s not the type of person to sacrifice himself to save himself, Adam. It’s his own fault. It’s not yours.”

Adam leaned over to hug him suddenly, surprising Lawrence. But he returned the hug, tightening his grip on Adam’s thin frame. “You’ve seen me at my absolute worst, Lawrence,” Adam said, his face buried in the crook of Lawrence’s neck.

“You’ve seen me in the same position, Adam.”

“And you still like me.”

“And you like me.”

Adam kissed Lawrence’s neck softly. Once. Then twice. But it stopped after the second kiss, returning to just the hugging. Lawrence tightened his arms more around Adam a little more, staying like this for a few minutes.

Once they separated, Adam looked at Lawrence with sad, dark eyes. He obviously wasn’t magically over this, but he could try to accept what he had done and move on. That’s what Adam needed to do. And Lawrence would be there for him. “So you don’t care that I killed people, right in front of you?” he asked.

“No,” Lawrence replied. “I’ve done things, also. Maybe not in front of you, but you’ve heard of some of those things, on the news. We’ve both done things in our lives that maybe we shouldn’t have, but we did them to survive, to move forward with our lives. And that’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to survive this life the best way we can, whatever we have to do. And we have. And we always will. That’s what we have to do, Adam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a little longer. I've been trying to think of what the games should be, and who the people should be. The next chapter will be about that, and probably less Adam, but I'll still bring him up somehow.


	10. And So He Begins: Adam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the set-up to the next round for the games. Guess who is now a part of the Jigsaw team.

It was finally time for the next game to begin. Logan, Hoffman, and Adelaide had gotten the six test subjects and got them placed in the large room. The games were played in all different types of settings: schools, old hospitals, factories. This game was in a factory, an old metal manufacturing company’s building. There were a few different rooms, ones that Hoffman and Logan had assembled by adding doors to section off the building into smaller places for each round of the game to be played.

The six people, Andy, Michael, Kristy, Nicholas, Francine, and Rose were in one of the larger rooms, because there were more of them at the beginning. Somebody always died the first round in the games in all the previous ones, and Lawrence guessed it was going to be the same that night. As the game went on, the rooms got smaller and smaller, because they were going to end up killing one another and there would be less people. In the end, they would find out they were supposed to help keep each other alive, but that was going to be at the end. Nobody ever realized it from the start. It sure would save a lot of pain, guilt, and lives, if they were to realize it at the beginning.

The young men and women were sitting on chairs, strapped by their wrists and ankles, in two rows of three, facing one another. They had large metal pipes sticking up from the floor in front of them. None of them were awake yet, but Lawrence knew it was going to happen soon. The sedatives lasted a while, some longer than others, but the accomplices knew how long each person would be affected by the drugs. This was from doing these games and tests so often. So they knew when the people would wake up.

Lawrence leaned back in his chair, letting his mind wander as he waited for the young people to wake up. His mind went from past test subjects, past accomplices, John, Adam. There were so many people who had been personally affected by these Jigsaw tests. And this wasn’t including their families and friends. All over the world, most likely, Lawrence knew they were changing lives. Some for the better, others for the worst. Mostly for the better, Lawrence believed. Some people lost their parents, their children, their spouses. This was just the way the games worked.

When he and Adam were talking last night, Lawrence had meant it when he said he felt regret for some of the people who were placed in these traps. He wasn’t sure if Adam truly believed him, but Lawrence knew some of these people didn’t deserve to be in traps. Obviously not everybody deserved to be tested the way they were. It came down to their relationships with others, though, for some of them. It was sad, really, but Lawrence couldn’t- shouldn’t- think about those people.

Not when the people who were being tested tonight deserved to go through this game.

They weren’t good people. They blackmailed people, created things to stop others from getting treatments they wanted or needed, used people, hurt people, hurt innocent creatures. These kids weren’t living their lives the right way, and they needed to learn it the hard way, otherwise they wouldn’t learn the lesson at all.

So these were six people Lawrence wasn’t going to lie awake at night thinking about. Maybe their families, but surely not them.

“What are you doing out here?” Hoffman asked, interrupting Lawrence from his thoughts.

When he looked up, Lawrence found Adam standing there, staring back at him. Hoffman was standing next to Logan, looking down at the plans for the night’s game, but now making full eye contact with Adam, not allowing him to break away from it. Adelaide was looking up from one of the computer screens at Adam, like Lawrence was.

“I feel like if you’re going to make me be here, I may as well actually be in here,” he said, crossing the room to where Lawrence was sitting without looking back at Hoffman.

“No,” Hoffman said, but Logan put his hand up to him, silencing the man.

“You want to be a part of this?” Logan questioned, surprised.

“Hell no,” Adam replied bitterly. “I just don’t want to sit in a room alone for however long this is going to take.”

“You seem like you would be a good asset to this, though,” Adelaide said, walking over to where Logan was, handing him one of the tan folders she had been looking through that he needed.

“Yes,” Logan agreed. “You’ve been able to figure out a lot, during both your tests, and out in the world. I’ve been watching you ever since before you were brought here the first time.”

“You’ve been watching me?” Adam asked, his eyes narrowing at Logan.

Logan nodded. “Yes, I’ve been watching you, making sure everything was fine and you were doing what you were supposed to.” He then added. “Or not doing what you were supposed to.” He stopped talking, waiting for Adam to say something else, but he never did, so Logan waited until he did.

Finally, Adam spoke, “Yeah, I don’t want to be a part of this. Thanks for the offer?”

“If you’re going to stay here, you’ll end up being a part of this, whether you realize it or not, Adam.” And he went back to what he had been doing. Adelaide also returned to what she was doing by some of the computer monitors, but Hoffman continued watching Adam, eyes narrowed, a scowl on his face. Lawrence knew it was going to take a long time for him to accept Adam, if he ever did. This was something Lawrence doubted. Hoffman barely liked him. Why would he accept somebody he so clearly hated?

When the two men were talking once more, and Adelaide was far enough away from Lawrence and Adam to hear what they were talking about, he turned to Adam. “He’s right, you know,” Lawrence said softly. He still didn’t want any of them to hear their conversation.

“Who?” Adam asked. “What?” He wasn’t nearly as quiet as he should have been. Lawrence gave him the look to quiet down, so he lowered his voice. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Logan, about him thinking you should become a part of this, whether you know you’re doing it or not. You’ve already helped with it before against your knowledge. And with your knowledge. You figured out a lot when we were locked in that bathroom together five years ago. You figured it out on your own.”

“He knows I came back here, to see you a few years ago.” He didn’t even respond to anything Lawrence just said.

“Yes, I guess he does. But he never said or did anything about it, so I guess he doesn’t actually care that much about you coming to see me. Maybe it’s because you didn’t physically come up to me, approach me, or anything. But you being in here right now, are you sure you want that?”

“Why didn’t he ever do anything, Lawrence? Jigsaw, Hoffman, they both said Hoffman would kill me if I ever came back. And he knew I came back to see you. Why didn’t he try to kill me? Why didn’t he tell Hoffman to kill me?”

“I don’t know, Adam. Maybe he didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”

“Then why would they threaten me like that? Maybe it’s because I didn’t talk to you? That’s probably what it is. I should be dead right now. I went against what they told me to do. I did what they said not to do. I literally did exactly the opposite of what I was supposed to do. I went to see you. Not in person, or at least not to you knowing I was there. But I was there. With you. He should have killed me. Hoffman seems like he would love to do it. Even now, he seems like he wants to kill me. Like, right now. He would probably do it right now if you and Logan wouldn’t stop him. Because you would stop him. And I don’t know if she would do anything about it, either, whatever her name is. Adelaide? Would she kill me? Probably. Who the hell even knows. I don’t know her.”

“She would definitely kill you if she was told to. No hesitation. But that doesn’t matter, Adam, because they’re not going to kill you.”

“How do you know? Maybe they will. What if they do? What if he tells them about it and Hoffman kills me? I don’t want to die by like, him strangling me. I feel like that’s the way he would kill me. He looks like he’s strangled people before. He’s got that face. I’ve been through all these things, but that’s probably the way I’m going to die. Wonderful. That’s fan-fucking-tastic.”

“Adam. Nobody is going to kill you. Logan knows what you did, but he didn’t say anything to anybody. Nothing is going to happen. They don’t care. You’re fine now.”

Lawrence felt like most of the time he spent with Adam, he was trying to calm him down. He seemed to go into hysterics so quickly. Lawrence didn’t mind, because he wanted Adam to let his emotions out, but they were so erratic at times, and Lawrence wasn’t sure how to exactly handle the younger man at times, but he hoped he was doing alright with it.

The two men sat in silence for a moment. Adam was staring at the screen, the computer monitor that showed the image of the large room the six new people for the game were seated, still unconscious, but one or two of them were about to wake up. It had been long enough for the sedatives to start wearing off. They would all be awake in the next five minutes or so, Lawrence knew.

“Are you sure you want to stay in here?” Lawrence gently questioned him, not knowing if he would actually be able to handle all the things he was about to see if he were to actually stay. Adam just nodded, not verbally responding. “Okay, but some of them are going to die. It’s inevitable. People always die in these.”

“If I’m going to end up being a part of this, may as well start seeing people die early off,” Adam said. There was a little bitterness in his tone, but it was the truth. As an accomplice, they just had to watch somebody die in order to fully become a part of the Jigsaw team.

“I suppose.”

The two sat in silence once more, watching the screen. The six people were sitting still, but then there was a little motion in one of the young men, Andy. He was the one who was going to school to be a teacher and was blackmailing the mothers. He began to move his head a little, picking it up from where his chin rested on his chest.

“Is that guy waking up?” Adam questioned, loud enough for the others to hear.

Like Lawrence thought, the others heard this part of the conversation, and Lawrence called them over to also look at the screen, watching as one of the young women, Rose, also began to move.

It was time for the game to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm going to make Adam a part of the Jigsaw team, but he's going to be more reluctant, and kind of against some of it. But he's still sort of going to be a part of all of it.


	11. And Then There Were Six: Adam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the next Jigsaw game. It's not really graphic, but there is some blood. I also just made these people up. They're described in the previous chapter. There's also some mentions of previous Saw movies, traps, and characters.

“Where the hell am I?” Michael shouted once he was fully awake. It was only a few moments later. Lawrence was used to hearing this question from most of the people that woke up in one of the tests. He was waiting for something new, something different than ‘Where the hell am I?’. When people were afraid, they spoke from the heart, and he was surprised he didn’t get more uniquely phrased questions than this one.

Lawrence leaned back in his seat next to Adam, who was on his left and Logan who was on his right, watching as the others began to wake up, asking the same question.

And then, they were arguing. This was something else that happened every time. Lawrence knew this wasn’t going to change, the repetition, because people were the same, when it came down to it. They could be put into all different types of situations, but the fact was this: everybody reacted the same. Of course there were some small differences, some who reacted differently than everybody else. But as a whole, people reacted to things exactly the same.

And this night, this game, was no different.

“What the hell is this?” Rose asked, trying to pull out of her restraints, but there was little to no give in the straps. Her wrists couldn’t move, but the rest of her arms could. This wouldn’t help her get out. At least she didn’t know it would until it was potentially too late. “Why are we here?”

“You know why we’re here,” Francine snapped. “This is Jigsaw.”

“He’s dead,” Nicholas countered.

“Haven’t you seen the news? He has accomplices.”

“She’s dead, too.”

“I said accomplices! There’s more than one accomplice! Do you think that one person could have done all of this, to all of us? You are big guys. This couldn’t just be one person!”

“You never know,” Andy said. He was sitting a lot more still, calmer than the other five. “People can do extreme things when they put their minds to it. They can do whatever they want in order to get, whatever they want. It’s human nature.”

“It’s like you admire this shit,” Kristy spit out at him.

“I don’t admire it, I just understand how these things work.” Lawrence heard Hoffman scoff. Adelaide rolled her eyes at Andy’s statement.

“And how would you know how this works?” Francine asked. “Are you a part of it? Did you put us in here?”

“Do you actually think I would put myself in this position? Are you really that stupid?”

“I’m not stupid!”

“Hello,” the voice rang throughout the room. Further conversation was cut off at that moment. All six of the people’s eyes widened as they heard the distorted voice greeting them. Hoffman pushed the button, letting the tape begin. Lawrence looked to his left at Adam, whose eyes were a little wider than normal, looking uncomfortable. But he was still here; he hadn’t gotten up and walked from the room. And he hadn’t said anything. Yet, that is. Lawrence could feel him getting ready to say something. He just wasn’t sure if he was going to say something that would make the others, Hoffman, angry. Lawrence hoped not.

“And welcome,” the voice continued. “You have all had the opportunity, the chance, to make a difference in the world. Not just your life, but so many other people’s lives, as well. And yet, you focus on yourselves, your own beliefs. You don’t allow yourself to see things from other’s perspectives. It is holding you back from your true potential. But that is going to change after today. You will learn how to work with others, putting their thoughts, their lives, before your own. All you have to do is work together, figure out how you fit in this game, where your place is on this earth. The metal pipes in front of you will stab through your skulls if you don’t manage to get them off before the time, sixty seconds, runs out. All you have to do is shed blood. It doesn’t matter how small: all you have to do to make it out alive is show that you are willing to give something of yourself up in order to move on through life with a new outlook. You have separated yourselves from helping those who need it the most, but I implore you to do the opposite, focus on somebody other than yourself. Are you willing to stop being the heartless people you have so comfortably become to help save a life? The choice is yours. Let the game begin.” And the tape cut off just as it came to life.

The six looked at one another in silence. This was before they began to argue again. The arguing always returned.

“What the hell does that mean?” Nicholas yelled as the saw began rotating underneath their wrists. They could move their arms down enough to touch the blade, but Lawrence wasn’t sure if they noticed this yet. That’s all they had to do: touch the blade, and they would be freed from their restraints. Lawrence wondered, hoped, that they figured this out soon. He wanted them to make it out alive. He wanted them to learn this lesson they were trying to teach. That was all they had to do: survive.

The girls screamed when the saws under their own arms began spinning. Andy’s calm exterior changed, looking more anxious as he tried to get out of his restraints. Michael, the athletic one who did drugs, was the only one who was motionless now. He looked like he was thinking. Was he going to be the first one out?

He stared at the saw blades underneath his arms. He watched them for a few seconds. They only had sixty seconds to get out, but that was enough time, he knew. Lawrence almost felt like it was too much time.

“So they have to cut themselves to get out?” Adam asked, breaking the silence in the room the four- five?- accomplices were sitting in.

“Yes,” Hoffman answered shortly, not bothering to add anything else.

Lawrence looked to his left, past both Logan and Adelaide, to where Hoffman sat at the end of their row. He was staring at the screen, though, not looking toward Lawrence and Adam, who was now glaring at him.

“Alright. Damn.” Adam’s voice was more of a whisper this time. He looked back up at the screen, cradling his crushed hand in his other arm. Lawrence wasn’t sure if Adam should be here or not. Maybe he shouldn’t have allowed him to stay. Maybe Lawrence should have forced him to go back to the room. Maybe he still should.

Lawrence looked back at the screen, watching the six people struggle for about thirty seconds or so. Twenty-five seconds too long, in Lawrence’s opinion. They should have figured this out by now. It wasn’t that complicated. But this was their game. He was just watching to make sure everything went according their plan.

Michael was the first to push his arm into the blade, by accident, releasing the restraints on his ankles and wrists. He did this with seventeen seconds left.

“All you have to do is touch the blade!” he yelled at the others, but they were all still panicking in their current situation to really comprehend what he was saying. Rose, though, quickly did it after watching what Michael had done, pushing her arm down on the rotating saw blade, causing her to shout out in pain, but also making the restraints on her legs and arms release. She smiled a little in relief.

One by one, the others touched their arms onto the saw blades, making the mechanisms stop and open up on their bodies. Some of the cuts were deeper than others, Lawrence noticed, but they would be fine. Andy, though, didn’t do it fast enough. He actually didn’t do it at all. When the time got to zero seconds, the metal pipe was released from its spring, lodging up through Andy’s eye, through the back of his head. Francine, who was standing next to him because she had just gotten out of her chair, got blood sprayed on her from the impact, making her scream and try to wipe the blood from her face.

Lawrence glanced at Adam to make sure he was alright. There was a look of disgust, but he didn’t look away. He didn’t look all that bothered by it. Of course there was a little sadness, but it wasn’t nearly as much as he thought there should be.

Lawrence was a little surprised. Sure, Adam had smashed Zep’s head in with the toilet tank lid, but this was a little different: he hadn’t set up the trap. Adam hadn’t killed Andy. There in the bathroom, he was in control of what was going on around him, in a way. But here? No, Adam had no say in any of this. He walked in after everything was already set up. He was just here to see what was going on, perhaps learn how these tests worked. Maybe one day he would do one on his own? Lawrence wasn’t completely sure about that, but there was a possibility. If Adam wanted to.

“Come on,” Michael said as he pushed past Francine. She wrapped her arms around herself, moving further away from the lanky man. “We have to go.”

“We just watched somebody die,” Kristy argued. “Are you even going to pretend to care?”

“I don’t give a fuck about him. And I don’t give a fuck about any of you. You’ll probably just slow me down.” He walked in front of Rose, getting to the door before she could. “Come on. Or stay. I honestly don’t care.”

Michael pushed the door, but it didn’t open all the way. The wire that needed to be pulled wasn’t pulled tight enough yet. This happened at all the locations, the tests that had more than one room.He would have to push the door open with more force. 

So he did. Perhaps a little too forceful.

He fell through the door, making the motion sensor lights come to life. Rose followed him in. Nicholas reached out to Francine, but she pulled away, moving further from him as she tightened her arms around herself, and walked through the door next. This was followed by Nicholas, and finally Kristy.

Once the five were in the room, Adelaide reached over to push the button that locked the previous room’s door, locking them in the new room. All of them except Michael jumped at the sound of the door slamming. “Really?” he scoffed at the rest of them.

“What the hell’s your problem?” Kristy demanded, but Michael just rolled his eyes at her.

“Seriously, though,” Nicholas added. “What’s your deal, man? None of us want to die. We all want to make it out of here. What’s your deal?”

“Yeah, but none of you would have made it out of there if I didn’t tell you what to do. So you’re welcome.”

“We would have figured it out on our own,” Rose countered, earning an eye roll from Michael as well. “You’re not, like, the savior of us all. We don’t even know your name. And you don’t know ours. And we don’t know his.” She nodded toward the metal door that was just closed, indicating Andy.

“It doesn’t matter what his name was. And it doesn’t matter what my name is. We’re not friends. I don’t give a shit if all of you die in this room. Honestly, it would probably make this go by a lot faster.”

“Apparently you did care a little,” Kristy said. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have said how to get out of the chairs.”

“I really don’t care, Blondie.”

“My name is Kristy.”

“Again. I don’t care.”

“Hello,” the distorted Jigsaw voice said after Hoffman pressed the button to let the next tape, and round, begin. They needed to start it because these kids were probably going to keep arguing, and would end up dying if the accomplices didn’t push them forward in the game.

That was another reason why they watched everything: they needed to make sure that the game continued the way it was intended. It was sometimes hard to watch some of the traps, but they had to make sure the game went as they originally planned it. Or at least close to how they planned it. There were always fights between the people who were put in the test together. It was normal. But they needed to sometimes stop them from arguing too long, because they wouldn’t end up making it out the right time. Everything was focused on time, except for the lessons that were supposed to be learned. Besides, the police might find them before they actually went through their test, which was something none of them wanted to have happen. It hadn’t happened yet, but Lawrence and the others didn’t want to risk it.

So they were forced to continue with their game,, whether they wanted to or not.

This round was in a medium sized room. It was smaller than the last, but larger than the rest of the rooms. Except for the next one. There was a large brazen bull oven sitting in front of the five young men and women. It was placed in the center of the room. They had used something like this before- a different model- with a man who had pretended to be a part of the game before. He lied, so they decided he needed to actually be tested to prove himself worthy of the life he claimed he had already proved himself worthy of having.

But this brazen bull oven was different than the last in both shape and what it contained. Instead of having any of their loved ones in it, like the man’s wife from the previous brazen bull, there was six keys in little glass boxes that were chained to the oven. They would have to break open the glass to get the keys out. They couldn’t just take the boxes with them. Connected to these keys was different letters and numbers, each one relating to each of the six test subjects. Some were months, others were names. There were even a few birthdays, or social security numbers. 

“This is your second chance to help rehabilitate your unforgiving personalities,” the tae continued. “In front of you are the keys to your freedom. Each one is relative to each of you. Only you will understand your relationship with your glass box and key, but you will have to learn about one another to get the whole picture. You need to focus on not just finding your own key, but helping the others along the way. You will need this information to help one another at a later time. Get the keys out before the time runs out, and you will be able to move forward with becoming a less selfish person. If not, this room will become your tomb. The oven will turn on, melting both the glass boxes and the keys. Also when the time runs out, the torches on the wall will spark to life, burning anything that is left inside this room. Can you work together in order to save all of you lives, or are you going to just focus on yourself? The choice is yours.”

The clock on the wall began to count down from ninety seconds, giving them a minute and a half to get out of the room. They would need to help one another, but they wouldn’t think of this, not all of them. Lawrence knew it would be easier to help one another, but these selfish kids wouldn’t do this. Especially not Michael. He was looking out for only himself.

“What does that mean?” Kristy asked as she walked over to the brazen bull oven. The others followed suit, surrounding the six glass boxes.

“We have to get the keys out of the boxes,” Michael snapped at her. “That’s all it said. We have to get out of here.”

Michael was taller than the others, so he could see the boxes a lot better. Nicholas was also tall, but Michael was facing the boxes’ fronts, so he could see the labels more clearly. Michael looked through the number and letter coated boxes, but confusion mixed with anger filled his features because he couldn’t figure it out.

“So what does the stuff mean?” Adam asked. “Like, the letters and numbers. What are those?”

“They are all different for each of them,” Logan answered. “Some are from things they did, like the date they were arrested, or did something to let somebody get hurt. Some are birthdays or social security numbers. It’s something they will all understand, though. Each box is made for each of them.”

Adam nodded a little, continuing to watch the five people struggle to figure out which box was their own. There was a lot written on them, so that’s why they had a little bit more time than the first room.

Lawrence was glad Logan had answered Adam’s question this time, and not Hoffman. He was being rough on Adam. But Hoffman was like this to most people. This was the way he had always been. Adam was still new to this, if he was actually going to become an accomplice. He didn’t know anything about the game that was occurring right now. He had no prior knowledge of the traps or the people in them. Hoffman knew this, but he didn’t care. He never really seemed to care about the others he worked with.

“What the hell!” Francine screamed at Michael as he smashed the box in front of her, making the glass fly out. A piece of it had cut her hand. Lawrence knew it was deep, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Francine would have to handle it herself. She pulled in back, holding it against her chest. “Why are you being such a dick?”

“Because,” Michael said, moving closer so that he was an inch or two from her face. “I already told you guys I don’t care about any of you.” He walked over to the door with his key. He tried to open the door, but it was still locked. At least three of them had to get their keys before it would unlock. He pushed against it, but it didn’t budge. He got frustrated quickly.

Rose was the second one to get her key. She tried to break the glass in a less destructive way than Michael, so the glass didn’t spray up at the others. She successfully didn’t hurt any of the others in the test by doing it this way. Once she walked over to the door, she tried to help Michael open it, but of course, it still didn’t budge. But that wouldn’t stop them from trying.

Kristy was the next to get her key. There was thirty seconds left to get out of the room. The time was counting down, and Nicholas and Francine still hadn’t figured out which key was there’s. Lawrence wasn’t sure if they even would figure this out. He didn’t have much hope. Francine didn’t seem to have that fighting spirit and Nicholas seemed to concerned with not dying than actually figuring out which was his.

The door opened up once Kristy had her key, so those three went into the next room. She ran off after Michael and Rose, wanting to get away from the brazen bull room as fast as possible. Nicholas and Francine glanced at one another, fear beginning to enter their features as the time got closer to zero. Well, more fear and panic, that is. They were already afraid.

“So they’re just going to burn to death if they don’t get their key?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” Hoffman said without looking away from the computer monitors.

“But, why don’t they all just take the keys and figure out whose is whose in the next room?”

“Because they’re idiots.”

“They’re not idiots, Hoffman,” Logan tried, but Hoffman shook his head.

“They’re idiots, Nelson. They were told to learn about one another, to help one another, but they didn’t. They’re focused on themselves. They don’t know how to change their lives. They’re idiots who don’t listen.”

“He’s right about the not listening,” Adelaide admitted. Logan sighed a little, looking back at the screen, but not saying anything else. Lawrence had to agree with the other two: these kids weren’t really listening.

Adam looked like he wanted to add more, but decided he shouldn’t and didn’t say anything else. His eyes went back to the screen after making eye contact with Lawrence. He looked a little sad, and irritated, but didn’t let anything else out. Neither of them spoke as their attention was back on the game that was going on in front of them.

The time got to zero just as Francine got through the door. Adelaide pushed the button to close it, like she had the first time. The brazen bull closed it’s doors as the main door leading to the next room closed, turning the temperature up to burn the remaining boxes and keys. Nicholas tried to touch it, but pulled back after getting burned. He looked toward the door, but there was no way out of this room. The torches came to life, beginning to incinerate anything left in the room. The tape had said this at the beginning of this round. This was going to be his tomb.

The four remaining test subjects stood in the next room. The girls were looking at the door that was just closed, sad expressions on their faces, but Michael was looking at what was in front of him. He looked like he didn't care about what lined the walls of the room.

In this room, there was a wall full of different boxes, like at the post office or in a bank. They were safety security boxes that would give them information about themselves and one another. After they got these, they would be able to go to the next test.

“Well, play the damn tape!” Michael shouted as he turned in a circle, looking at the hundreds of small compartments covering the walls. The girls finally looked from the door and around their surroundings, taking in what their next test was going to be.

Hoffman’s finger hesitated above the button. Logan shook his head a little, telling Hoffman not to begin the next tape just yet. Sometimes, they needed to prolong things in order for the test to actually mean something to the people. It was like them playing the tapes to stop them from fighting: time was a construct, their construct, and they controlled all the variables. Sometimes taking things slowly would help the people in the tests reflect on what had happened and try to think about what was going to happen moving forward with the game.

So they were going to have to wait this time.

“So do they need to other keys?” Adam asked.

“Not exactly,” Adelaide replied this time. “We just want them all to be able to live, while they learn the lesson we’re trying to teach them.

“Then why didn’t they just take them all? Did they not think of that?”

“No,” Hoffman said. “Because they’re idiots.”

“What the hell?” Michael shouted once a few minutes had passed. Hoffman still didn’t move to start the tape. “Why isn’t the next tape playing?”

“Maybe we all needed to be here for the tapes to continue?” Rose suggested.

“No,” Michael said, shaking his head. “The other one played right away, even after that guy was impaled.”

“Then why do you think?”

“I don’t know! That’s why I asked.

“The other tape said we needed to understand one another in order to get the full picture of why we were here. We have to figure out each other to get out of here. We have to work together, not only think about ourselves. We have to help each other.”

Lawrence decided Rose was going to be the one to make it out of the game alive. He wasn’t sure if any of the others would, but he knew she was going to live. She was finally understanding what they were supposed to do. Sure, it took her long enough, but some other people never realized this. Michael sure wasn’t learning this.

“I feel like you aren’t getting it,” Michael said, walking over to the door, pushing against it. The door didn’t budge, though. He groaned, turning to face the three young women who were also locked in the room with him. “I don’t care if any of you live.”

“And that’s why you’re going to die,” Rose stated.

“You know what, you bitch…?”

But he was cut off.

Finally, Logan motioned for the round to begin. Hoffman pressed the button that started the next tape.

“Hello,” Jigsaw said, “and welcome to your third chance of becoming a better person. You’ve all hurt the people who were closest to you, let some of them go, some of them die, in order to get ahead in life. You don’t think of others before you take action: you just do whatever you need to in order to make your own lives better. You have locked the good in you away, hiding from the rest of the world. You’re going to have to unlock the good in you in order to survive in this world, in this test. All around you are different security boxes, holding the only way you will earn your true freedom. The keys you got from the previous room will help you unlock these boxes. You have three minutes to find the three boxes that contain your way out of this room. If you do not do this in three minutes, the doors will permanently lock and this room that resembles a mausoleum, will truly become your final resting place. The choice is yours.”

And with that, the tape ended and the clock began to count down from three minutes. The three young women and young man began to rush around the room, trying to find the boxes that belonged to them. This time, they didn’t continue arguing. They just went to look for their own boxes, not attempting to help the others who were in there with them.

 

“What’s in the boxes?” Adam asked as they continued looking.

“Can you stop asking questions and just watch?” Hoffman snapped at him.

“Or you could just answer the questions.”

“Or you could just shut the hell up.”

“Why do they need stuff from a box? What’s even the point to it? Why would they need something other than keys? Are there more keys?”

“Shut the hell up and watch.”

“Just answer the questions! Why does it matter so much to you that I’m asking about this?”

Hoffman turned to glare at Adam, about to rise from his seat, who returned the look. These two were probably never going to get along. He and Hoffman had learned how to work together without arguing, but Lawrence couldn’t see this happening with him and Adam. They were far too different, or similar, and Hoffman didn’t have the patience to work with anybody who asked him too many questions. Lawrence had found that out the hard way, just like Adam seemed to be doing. He just hoped they would stop fighting now and focus on the game.

“It’s things that are personal to them,” Lawrence interrupted their argument. “It’s going to help motivate them to keep going, to figure out how to survive with one another, and become less selfish. It’s things that belonged to the people they’ve hurt, that will affect them in a way. They need to learn to move on from the past and become a better person in the future.”

“See?” Adam asked Hoffman bitterly. They were both still glaring at one another. “Why couldn’t you have just said that?”

“Just watch the damn screen,” Hoffman said rather than continuing the argument.

Adam looked back at the screen after Hoffman looked back first, rolling his eyes in the process of doing this.

When Lawrence followed suit, he found that Rose had found her three boxes, containing the journal that belonged to her little sister who died when she was six, a photograph of her and her boyfriend on their anniversary at some ski lodge that she cheated on him at, and a pocket watch that belonged to her grandfather, who fought in World War II, for the Nazis. She crossed the room toward the door, pushing it open. It moved a little, but the wire kept it shut. So she pushed harder, yet it still didn’t open. The third shove managed to pull the wire from its place and the door opened completely, letting her in.

Kristy had only found one of her objects. It was the release forms of her brother, the papers that let him out of the twenty-five year sentence for raping three women. Francine found two of her objects. One was of her dog’s collar, the one she ended up killing because her father paid more attention to the cancer-ridden dog. The second item was of the dog tags her uncle had gotten after serving in the military, but didn’t deserve because he abandoned his troop. Michael also had two of his items. His were this small antique mirror and a necklace that belonged to his both of his grandmothers that he ended up selling to get money for drugs. The last item, the one he just found, was an empty prescription bottle that belonged to his grandfather, one he had stolen and sold for more money. His grandfather had died because he hadn’t had his medicine.

Rose and Michael were both in the next room already, waiting for the time to run out in the previous room and the next test to begin. There was forty seconds left, and Kristy still only had one object. Francine had just found her last one, which was a set of pearl earrings that belonged to her older sister, that she had been wearing the day she died in a car crash that Francine had stolen before the funeral.

Once she got this last object, she ran off out of the door. It began to shut as Kristy began to run over to it, too, trying to get through to the next room even though she hadn’t found all her objects.

She didn’t get there in time.

The doors locked, leaving Kristy in the room for the rest of her life, however long that would be. She was screaming, but there was nothing the others could do for her. And the accomplices had given her a chance, but she failed.

Lawrence looked at Adam, waiting for him to say something. He had been in this exact same situation five years ago, and Lawrence thought he would have something to say about the treatment of Kristy, of her being locked into this safety security box room until she died. Didn’t he think she didn’t deserve it? Lawrence waited for him to speak what was on his mind. It would only be a matter of moments for the young man to say something. That’s the way he was, anyway.

He was surprised when Adam didn’t say a word. Lawrence noticed he didn’t look all that disturbed by this. If anything, he looked emotionlessly at the young woman who was trapped in the same situation he had been in.

“What?” Hoffman asked. “Nothing to say?” He directed this at Adam.

“She didn’t find all three of the things,” Adam replied. “She failed.”

After hearing him say that, Lawrence was surprised. Adam’s attitude had changed dramatically, but it wasn’t new to Lawrence. He knew Adam reacted to things like this. He was pretty sure Adam had bipolar disorder. This was the way Adam acted sometimes. It could change so quickly. Adam said these things with all honesty: he meant them. Kristy had failed her test, just like he had all those years ago. That’s what was supposed to happen. Lawrence didn’t like that. He didn’t want Adam to slip into any type of sadness or anger over these memories.

Lawrence was still a little surprised at the coldness Adam put out from watching this round of the game, but there wasn’t anything he could do at the moment. Maybe he would talk to Adam later.

Now there were three people left in the game, just as Lawrence had previously imagined. Francine, Rose, and Michael. Lawrence wasn’t surprised about Rose and Michael, but he was a little with Francine. She seemed like the weakest out of all of them, including the ones who didn’t make it out of the other tests, but here she was. Maybe he had underestimated her? Lawrence wasn’t sure, but she was still here, still alive. He guessed he underestimated some people before, so it wasn’t that hard to think he had assumed wrong about Francine’s will to live. She was learning how to survive. Hopefully, she was learning how to live her life better.

In this room, the fourth room in the game, there were six pedestals, indicating which belonged to each person with their picture taped to the front. They were standing in front of Francine, Michael, and Rose, about five yards away. Sitting on each one was two needles. Each were labeled with different letters and numbers, like the keys in the second round were labeled with. But they were different than the first ones, yet they still meant something to these young women and young man. They would still understand which one they were to take. Or at least that’s what Lawrence hoped. They needed to realize this.

When the three didn’t start to argue for the first time that night, just stood together, staring at the pedestals, Hoffman started the tape without hesitating. “Hello,” Jigsaw said, “and welcome to your fourth chance at becoming a better person. You’ve managed to prove to not only yourself, but the others in the room with you that you are truly changing from the person you woke up as. You have fought your way through these tests, learning the things about yourself that you’ve tried so desperately to hide from the world. Now, you will have to prove that you’ve learned the person you were meant to be. While you were asleep, you were injected with a poison that has been slowly eating away the red blood cells in your veins. The two solutions in front of you are your way out. One is the antidote to the poison, while the other is a skin-eating acid that will work its way from the inside out. In order to get out of this room, you will need to select the right one. You have sixty seconds to decide if you are going to free yourself from what’s poisoning your life, or are you going to let your choices keep eating you alive. The choice is yours.”

The tape cut off, just like the previous ones. Lawrence watched the three young adults walk toward their pedestals. Once there, they looked at the two syringes. They had markings on them that Lawrence couldn’t see, but knew what they were. The letters and numbers were the birthdays of their parents. One, the correct one, was their mother’s or father’s birthday, and the other, the acid, was just a random day. The thing was, all the acid ones were the same date: November 2, 1968. If they were to talk about what was on them, they would figure it out.

“How do we know which one is the right one?” Francine asked, but didn’t get a response. Rose shrugged a little as she shook her head, but Michael didn’t respond at all. He stared at the two needles, reaching to pick one of them up. It seemed to be random.

“Does it matter?” he asked. “They’re probably not going to be acid.”

“Do you honestly believe there’s not acid in one of them?” Rose asked. Francine was watching the two argue, just like she had every time before now. “You saw what happened to the others. They’re all dead, or going to die, because they didn’t listen to the rules. They failed.”

“Yeah, but I don’t fail anything.”

Michael injected himself with the syringe he had picked up. For a moment, nothing happened. But after a few seconds, blood began to come from his eyes and run down his face, and the place where he injected himself began to fizz, oozing out blood. Francine and Rose looked at one another fearfully as Michael fell to the floor, convulsing in pain. Neither moved to where this was happening.

The two girls had about fifteen seconds left, so they both picked up a needle and looked at one another, rushing toward the door so they could immediately leave once they injected themselves. They pushed the needles into their arms after a moment’s hesitation, staring at one another as they did this. Were they the right needles? Lawrence wasn’t sure. But he hoped they were, for the girls’ sake.

But nothing happened to them, and the door opened. No oozing blood, no convulsing. Nothing. Once the were on the other side, the door slammed shut and Rose leaned against it. She looked at Francine, who slid down the wall, sitting with her knees up to her chest, beginning to cry a little.

“It’s over,” Francine whispered quietly, but the microphones in the room picked it up regardless of her quietness.

“We won,” Rose said, sitting next to her, smiling a little.

Instead of playing another tape that introduced the next challenge, Jigsaw’s voice said, “Congratulations. You have proven that you have what it takes to continue living a less selfish life. Not everybody can say that, but you can. Now, you can.”

“So what now?” Adam asked, turning to look at Lawrence and the others.

“They get to go live their lives the way they should have been the whole time,” Logan replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adam's going to become an accomplice. Maybe not yet, but he's on his way.


	12. After His First Game: Adam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is right after the test, when Lawrence and Adam get back to Lawrence's house. They talk a little about the future, and do some stuff (that's not mentioned, but is insinuated).

The young women were found by the police about twenty minutes later and brought to the hospital. They got all the bodies of the previous test subjects out after making sure there weren’t any traps they would accidentally set off. Kristy had died quickly because she hadn’t gotten the antidote. This was a good thing for her. At least she didn’t have to suffer long. Well, she did suffer, but perhaps she deserved it. Maybe she should have suffered longer? Lawrence wasn't sure, but he felt like she got what she deserved. It's like what Adam said: she failed.

It was ironic, because she had caused other women to die from not getting treated. It seemed like sometimes the Jigsaw games were like karma: everybody got what they deserved because of their actions.

Lawrence was glad for this. He felt like the people who died sometimes got what they deserved. They had lived bad lives, hurt people, killed people, and then they were and ended up dying themselves. This truly was karma at work. These people didn’t deserve better than what they put others through. It was justice. This was one of the main reasons why Lawrence followed John, did his work with him and after he passed away.

But that was then, and now an hour had passed.

Adam and Lawrence were on the way back to their suburban home. Or at least they were back to Lawrence’s home. He wasn’t sure if he should consider it Adam’s house just yet. Sure, he was living there, but it was still Lawrence’s house.

Logan hadn’t explained why he was present for this game, but Lawrence also hadn’t asked. He felt like it wasn’t the time to question the game. It had just ended and there were two survivors, two people who actually made it out alive. They learned their lesson. Maybe they would talk to one another the following day about the reasoning behind his appearance. Logan should have some sort of explanation. Lawrence couldn’t demand it, but he could still ask about it.

But the two men were finally on their way home, after a little over a day of being in the compound. They were finally going to be able to sleep in their own bed. Beds? Lawrence wasn’t sure if they were going to share a room now, or if they were going to keep it separate. He wasn’t sure what Adam would want. And honestly, he wasn’t sure what he wanted, anyway. Either way, they were going to be able to sleep in a familiar place. They hadn’t slept at the compound, but if they had, it wouldn’t have been all that comfortable.

Once Lawrence was parked in the garage next to his black Chrysler, and they were in the house, Adam was opening a box of the fruit snacks, the second to last box, and eating one of the little packages. He also got a water bottle and drank half of it. Lawrence wasn’t sure Adam actually ate the way he should be eating. He stood in silence, staring out the window into the early morning sky. It was a little after five o’clock, and the sky was just beginning to light up blues and pinks. It was a pretty morning, but Lawrence was exhausted from not sleeping over the past two nights. At least he wasn’t going to have to work today.

Lawrence walked over to the place on the counter where he kept his bottles of alcohol he drank after the games, grabbing the bottle of scotch, and poured a glass for himself. He watched as Adam ate another pack of the fruit snacks. Lawrence was definitely going to have to get Adam to eat a more reasonable diet. The young man couldn’t survive on just fruit snacks, like he had been doing for two days. And the cookies he made. It wasn’t healthy. He leaned against the counter, one elbow on the marble surface, watching the young man, deep in thought. He was still concentrating on the man’s figure.

“Are you okay?” Lawrence questioned after they had been home for about twenty minutes. And five fruit snack packs later. Adam stopped chewing for a moment, but nodded and continued eating. “Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it?”

“Why couldn’t they just work together?” Adam asked, looking over at Lawrence. There was a sadness in his eyes that wasn’t there before. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to let his emotions out in front of the other accomplices. “Why did they have to die? Why couldn’t they help one another? What the hell is wrong with some people?”

Lawrence crossed the kitchen to stand closer to the younger man. He touched his arm gently, hoping he didn’t pull away. He was clearly sensitive right now, so anything could happen. Adam reacted in different ways to physical contact, Lawrence knew.

Instead, Adam wrapped his arms around Lawrence’s neck, resting his head on Lawrence’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything else, just tightened his arms around the older man. Lawrence hadn’t felt him hug him this tightly ever before. But this was after the first game he ever witnessed. It made sense that he wanted to be close to somebody right now.

“I don’t know, Adam,” Lawrence replied softly, wrapping his own arm around the man’s body. He rested his other hand on the back of Adam’s head, gently rubbing his hair. Adam nuzzled himself closer to Lawrence’s chest. “That’s just the way things go sometimes. We don’t want people to die. We want them to learn the lesson that will help them in their lives, but sometimes they just don’t listen. Or understand. And sometimes, they just don’t care. It’s how the tests go sometimes, Adam.”

“I don’t see why they didn’t try to help each other,” Adam said, his face resting in Lawrence’s neck. He kissed the soft warm skin a few times. Lawrence tightened his grip on Adam in response to the kisses. “We talked to each other. We figured things out between us. Why couldn’t they?”

“I don’t know, Adam. That’s just the type of people they were, I guess. We’re the type of people that can figure out why they’re in the test. It was bad at times, in those six hours. But we still figured it out.”

“Yeah. They should have been more like us. I didn’t like Michael. Francine was right. Michael was a dick.”

Lawrence tried not to smile. “Yes, he was.”

“Do you feel bad that he died? That any of them died?”

“Of course I feel bad. Not as bad about Michael, but for the others: yes. I wanted them to be able to learn to be better people. I wanted them to learn to help others, to trust the people around them. But they didn’t do it. It’s hard when there are so many people who you want to live, but sometimes just can’t find the way to do it.”

Okay. Maybe Lawrence had been wrong earlier. Maybe he actually would be lying awake at night, thinking about these kids that didn’t make it out alive. He guessed he was going to have to add four more people he felt some form of guilt about to the list.

“I just don’t understand why they didn’t want to help one another. That’s, they could all be alive right now if they would have shut their damn arguing mouths and talked rather than fight the whole time.”

“Yes, they would all be alive. I do feel bad that they aren’t, but the test is over. They didn’t learn their lesson. We can’t just focus on them anymore. I can’t focus on the others that didn’t make it out of their own tests alive. Besides, there’s always more people who are going to be tested, to see if they can listen and learn. There has to be people out there that are willing to give up the bad in their life to fully become the good person they were always meant to be.”

“Is there already another test that’s done?”

“I think that’s what Logan and Hoffman were talking about. They’re probably going to find more people to be tested. It may not be as many as this one was, but there will definitely be more. They also might not be in the same game. It all depends on whether or not they have something in common. Now that you’ve been there for this game, they’ll probably want you to be there for the others. Are you okay with that?”

Adam hesitated. He picked his head up from Lawrence’s shoulder, looking him in the eyes. “I don’t know. I guess. I mean, I get that you want to make people’s lives better, make them better people, but it’s just so, I don’t know. Harsh? I don’t know if that’s the right word.”

“Yes, I feel like that’s a good word for certain tests. Some of the traps are harsh, yes, but they’re necessary at times.”

“I get that. I just don’t know if I could put somebody in one of them.”

“It’s hard the first time. The first few times, if I’m being honest. But after a while, you’ll start to feel better about it. You’ll feel like you’re doing them a favor by putting them in these traps. It will change their outlook on life, and they will try to be better than they were when they were brought into the test.”

Adam shrugged a little. “I guess so, then. When is that going to be?”

Lawrence shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t even know if they have any real plans yet or not. They might just be talking about what’s going to happen next.”

“Well, I guess they’ll tell me. Or you’ll tell me. It’ll probably be you, I guess.”

“Yes, we’ll talk about it once everything is figured out. We should probably get some sleep. We might talk about more things later with the others.”

“We’re going to sleep now?”

“Yes. Why? Was there something you wanted to do?”

“Well…”

“What do you…? Oh! Oh, okay.” Adam smiled, rolling his eyes at Lawrence.

And they were off to the bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure what the next chapter will be. Maybe all the accomplices getting together? That's probably what's going to happen. Maybe it'll be like a coffee shop type of thing? I don't know yet. I also didn't think my story would get this far, but I'm glad that it's still going!


	13. The Coffee Bean: Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set in an electronics store and a coffee shop. The accomplices talk about the next person who is going to be in a test.

Lawrence and Adam fell asleep around seven in the morning. The sky was beginning to brighten, but he had dark curtains in his room. Adam was lying next to Lawrence, on his stomach. Adam’s head was on his chest, and his arm was wrapped around Lawrence’s waist. Lawrence never thought he would be able to feel this happiness again. He hadn’t felt like this with Alison long before they got divorced.

But now, here he was, with the man of his dreams.

Later that day, around one in the afternoon, Lawrence got a call from Adelaide. She wanted them all to meet up at this coffee shop a couple of minutes from the compound they worked inside of. This meant it was about a half hour drive from his home. He told Adam, and the two got ready to meet the others.

“So why are we going to a coffee shop?” Adam questioned once they were in the car. He didn’t put his seat belt on yet, so Lawrence didn’t begin driving. He was going to do this every time they got in the car and Adam didn’t put it on. This was the fourth time he was doing it. “Why do you like seat belts so much?”

“Like them? I, what? They’re for your own safety, Adam,” Lawrence chastised. Sometimes Adam’s youth came out too much for Lawrence to handle.

Adam put his seat belt on in defeat, with a sigh, and Lawrence began to drive toward the large town’s coffee shop. “So you didn’t answer my question.” He was pressing the button, flipping through the radio stations, trying to find something he wanted to listen to. But after the ninth time pushing it, he pressed the button to turn it off, not liking anything that was playing.

“Which was?” Lawrence looked around at the scenery as he drove toward the coffee shop. There were different roads that would lead to the cafe, but Lawrence chose this route. It was much prettier than the other ones.

“Why are we going to a coffee shop?”

“We meet there sometimes to talk about things.”

“But, like, why? Isn’t Hoffman like, wanted for being an accomplice?”

“He was, but we faked his death, like they apparently did with you. So it’s fine for him to be out in public. Nobody is looking for him anymore. And the coffee shop is just an easy place to go, for all of us. It’s a convenient spot. There’s a lot of people, so nobody will really pay attention to anything we’re talking about, but it’s still a pretty private place. Nobody bothers us there. They don’t recognize any of us. Not that Logan or Adelaide has been proven to have anything to do with any of the games. Nobody knows that either of them were tested.”

“So you guys just talk about Jigsaw and everything else?”

“Not exactly. So you don’t bring anything up, either. Don’t even mention the Jigsaw name. Hoffman will say something, and I don’t feel like hearing him complain about anything today.”

This earned a smile from Adam. Lawrence returned it, reaching over to pat his arm. “Okay.”

The two men were quiet for a while as Lawrence drove. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, or lights, so he was able to just keep driving. Adam was watching the trees and buildings fly past while Lawrence paid attention to the yellow striped asphalt. The sun wasn’t in the sky today; it was an overcast afternoon, kind of chilly out, but comfortable. They both had jackets on. This was the kind of weather Lawrence liked. When it was cold or rainy, his leg where he cut his foot off hurt. And when it was sunny, Lawrence felt blinded by the light. But this day, it was a good day.

Hopefully it would continue being a good day.

When Lawrence arrived at the coffee shop, The Coffee Bean, he found Adelaide’s car parked next to an open spot. After parking beside her red Toyota, the two men walked into the coffee shop. Even outside, the scents of coffee beans could be smelled from down the street. He loved going to this place, and was happy that the other accomplices agreed that this was their spot to meet up.

Lawrence walked in, holding the door open for Adam. Once inside, the aromas grew stronger. There were different doughnuts and pastries that could be bought along side with coffees and teas. They had almost any flavor of all these things that one could possibly imagine. There were different booths, tables, and couches that held small groups of people, two or three members per group. The walls were painted reds, browns, and other earthy tones. It was a very comforting place to be.

Lawrence walked up to the counter with Adam next to him, ordering his usual: vanilla latte with soy milk. Adam, on the other hand, stood in silence, staring up at the menu with childlike-wonder. His brown eyes scanned the different items, trying to comprehend all the different types of things they had here.

The young barista watched him, a little knowing smile lighting up her pretty dark eyes. She was young and always sweet to Lawrence. She was like this toward everybody, though. “So I guess this is your first time here?” she questioned. Adam only nodded.

He continued looking through the different items he could buy while they made Lawrence’s latte. While he waited, Lawrence looked around for the others. He found Hoffman and Adelaide sitting across from Logan at one of the back booths. Hoffman was watching them, that irritated look back on his face. Lawrence thought he should be done with his anger by now, but he guessed he wasn’t. Or this was just new annoyance toward Adam. Lawrence wasn’t sure. But he was going to go with the latter. Honestly, he could just be mad that Adam was here at all.

After Adam ordered a white chocolate iced coffee, the two men walked over to join their acquaintances. Lawrence still wasn’t sure if they were considered friends, not all of them, that is. Logan and perhaps Adelaide were, but Hoffman? Definitely not a friend. It was more of a friend-of-a-friend type of situation with him. And barely that.

“So why are we here?” Lawrence asked as he sat next to Logan, stretching his prosthetic leg out a little. Adam sat across from him, next to Adelaide. He seemed to be more comfortable with her than Lawrence thought he would be. At least he wasn’t beside Hoffman, much to Hoffman’s pleasure. He still looked bitter about Adam being present. Lawrence really didn’t want him to hate Adam, but it seemed like this wasn’t going to change anytime soon. He also wasn’t sure if there was anything he could do to lessen this irritation. He didn’t want to leave them alone together, try to let them figure it out; Hoffman had anger issues and Adam developed an attitude very quickly. Lawrence saw it ending very badly.

Lawrence asked as he took a drink from his coffee cup, waiting for Logan or one of the others to answer his question.

“We’re thinking about the next game,” Hoffman replied, looking out the window as he raised his cup to his lips. He never made eye contact with Lawrence for that long.

“And you’re going to be a part of this one, also?” Lawrence asked, directing this question to Logan personally.

“Yes,” Logan replied. He had a black briefcase, one of the ones that looked like a small duffel bag, sitting between the two men. This was the bag Logan always carried his plans for the tests and games in. He reached down, pulling out a tan file folder that Lawrence was so used to seeing, both in the Jigsaw work and his work as an oncologist. “I’ve decided to be more involved in this. That’s what John wanted, and I haven’t been doing it exactly. And it seems like we’re starting to expand, so it’ll be better if we are all together, making everything up together. We can make this bigger than we have in the past.”

“Aren’t people going to wonder where you are?” Adam asked. “Don’t you guys have, like, actual jobs?”

“Hoffman doesn’t anymore; they think he’s dead. Lawrence still works at the hospitals and has his office. Adelaide is a coder, so she can work from almost anywhere. And I’m a medical examiner, but there are others who I work with that can examine the bodies just as easily as myself. I’ve been doing both for a long time, so they won’t notice much of a difference.”

“Oh. Okay. How do you get money to do this? Do you guys pay for everything? How does that even work?”

“John budgeted out money for all of this.”

“He planned this far ahead? Didn’t he know he was going to, like, die soon? Didn’t he have cancer?”

“Yes, but he knew what he wanted to have happen in the future. He planned ahead, both different games and money-wise. He knew how much he would have to have in order to keep his legacy running. And then he doubled it.”

“Okay, cool. Alright.”

Hoffman sighed a little, looking out the window once more. “Are we going to spend the whole time answering his questions again?” Hoffman grunted out.

“He’s a part of this now,” Logan said. “He needs to know all about this, because he’s going to be doing all the things we do, with all of us. With you.”

“I don’t have to do anything with him,” Adam countered. “I’m totally fine not ever being around him.”

“That makes two of us,” Hoffman agreed with another grunt.

Now it was Logan’s turn to sigh. Lawrence also did, taking a drink from his cup after doing so. It was probably for the best that the two men weren’t around one another, alone, for at least a little while. Or possibly ever. They didn’t need to work with just one another. There were five of them. Besides, there was still too much unresolved hatred between them.

Lawrence looked at the folder that sat on the table, wondering who the next person was going to be. They never had a lot of information at the beginning of the tests, when they were first planning it, and he didn’t expect this one to be any different. When he noticed Lawrence’s eyes, Logan finally handed him the file folder he had gotten from his bag. “This is the next person that we need to find out more about,” Logan said.

Lawrence took the folder, opening it up to find this young man’s photograph staring back at him. There wasn’t much else in the folder, except another picture and a birth certificate. The guy’s name was Noah Dean. He was twenty-nine years old, tanned skin, had dark brown hair, and blue eyes. He was born on December twenty-seventh. His mother died after he was born, and his father, who was only seventeen at the time, gave Noah up for adoption a few days after his birth.

And that’s all it said.

This was all they knew about Noah, but he knew Adelaide would be able to find just about anything that pertained to this young man out in a matter of a minutes. She was good at this stuff. That was another thing Lawrence was happy about: he had somebody who could find all the information out about somebody in a very short amount of time. So they would need to do this quickly. They didn’t know if he had children, siblings, or if he was married. But she would be able to find anything out.

“So because you don’t really know anything about what’s going on just yet,” Logan said to Adam, “after Adelaide finds his address, I want you to follow him, take pictures of him. I know you’re good at that type of thing. We need to learn more about him before we do anything.”

“Then why him, if you don’t know anything about him?” Adam asked.

“Well, we know at least one thing. The only real thing we know about him is that he was a part of the murders of twelve fourteen year old girls that were coming home from a track meet. The bus was pushed off the road, the driver and coach both shot in the head. The bodies of the girls turned up, one or two at a time. There were signs of torture, even rape with some of them.”

“Okay. He’s definitely a good person for this.”

Adam was sometimes easy to work with. Other times, not so much. This came and went, very easily. That’s one of the reasons Lawrence thought Adam was bipolar. Right now, he was being very easy to get along with. Knowing him, though, Adam would be mad and arguing about something later that evening. At least it would just be the two of them, at Lawrence’s house rather than in public. Or around Hoffman. Lawrence didn’t even want to think about what it would be like if Hoffman and Adam started fighting in public.

But right now, things were going smoothly. The group of five finished their coffees and talking about the newest test subject and then were on their way, doing what they were supposed to for the next test.

“Are you okay with all this?” Lawrence asked once they were in the car on the way back to Lawrence’s home.

“Surprisingly, yes,” Adam replied, staring out the window as Lawrence drove. “I don’t have a camera, though.”

“We could go buy one.

“When?”

“Now. Adelaide will get the address soon, and we should start right away. Do you know where any stores are?”

So for the next half hour, Lawrence and Adam looked around for the right camera for Adam. Lawrence found he was very particular with the cameras he used, which was kind of a refreshing thing. Adam seemed to not care much about the quality about, well, anything. But then it came to electronics, and he knew the names of everything. Adam knew what he liked and what he didn’t like. He knew the difference between the lenses, the cameras themselves, the different films. Lawrence was, happy? Yes, he was happy. He was glad that Adam was so invested in something.

They found an electronics shop and Adam spent an hour and a half walking around, looking at the different cameras and supplies. He was standing in front of the Olympus film cameras. Lawrence knew little to nothing about these cameras, so he just stood, watching Adam look through them. The only reason he knew what the Olympus cameras were, was because of the sign on them. Otherwise, he never even heard of this brand.

“So you honestly don’t care how much this costs?” he asked, eyes focused on one camera in particular. It was around a thousand dollars.

“I already told you no,” Lawrence replied. “Get whatever you want. Are you going to need lenses?”

“Yeah, they’re here, too.” He motioned toward these boxes that were on shelves underneath the cameras. Lawrence looked at all of them, wondering which lenses went with which cameras. Or if there was even a difference, if they were the same brand but different sizes. Was size even the right word? He had no idea. Did they all work for each camera? Still, no idea. Adam was so interested in this, Lawrence knew he was going to have to have to learn about these things.

“Okay, well, get what you need.”

Adam picked up one of the cameras and one of the boxes of lenses. This box in particular had four different lenses in it. They costed seven hundred dollars for the set, for just the four lenses. Was that normal? He couldn’t be sure, but he also didn’t care. The camera itself was a thousand dollars. He looked up at Lawrence, and said, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Lawrence answered with a smile. Seventeen hundred dollars wasn’t that bad. Honestly, Lawrence thought Adam would have bought something else more expensive. But he didn’t know any of these electronics, so Adam could be buying the most- or least- expensive camera the store sold. In the end, Adam bought the Olympus PEN-F camera with the Micro Four Thirds Travel lenses kit. He also bought a bag for the camera and lenses.

But honestly, Lawrence didn’t care about how much all of this costed. He knew Adam hadn’t had a great life, money-wise. He used to take pictures of people for a job, and that was it. He liked photography, so at least he got to do something enjoyable while working. Lawrence knew that job didn’t pay as well as people might think. So Lawrence wanted to buy, or let Adam buy, anything he could possibly want. Or need. It didn’t matter. He wanted to make sure the younger man had a better life now. He wanted to get him everything. Lawrence made a lot of money, and he wanted to spend it on Adam. Before him, Lawrence hardly spent money. Alison bought everything for Diana, so he didn’t have anybody to spend money on.

Now he had Adam. And he was never going to let him go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably add another chapter describing one or two more people (I don't know how many yet) who are going to be tested in the Jigsaw game. Also, I don't think I'll ever have Hoffman and Adam like one another. I kind of like the hate between them. I'll also try to write more banter between the two.


	14. Manila Envelopes: Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter explains the next person (the main one) who is going to be tested. Adam's a good cook. He and Lawrence have some pasta.

Lawrence sat on the couch, waiting for Adam to get back. He had let him take the car to take pictures of Noah. He wanted to start doing it as soon as possible. Lawrence liked the initiative he had with this, but that was two hours ago. He should have been back by now. It’s not like Lawrence was worried Adam wasn’t going to come back. He knew Adam wouldn’t have left. Lawrence was more concerned something happened to the young man.

So there he sat, waiting.

He wasn’t sure exactly where Adam had gone. Adelaide gave him the address, and Adam took it with him. Lawrence hadn’t even seen where Noah lived. He could be down the street. Lawrence doubted this, but it was possible.

It was a little after nine o’clock that night. Lawrence had to go into the office tomorrow, and there was a lot he was going to have to do. But he was still thinking about Adam. He needed to think about something else. His work day was a good idea for different thoughts.

There were different patients he was going to have to see, figure out what type of cancer they had, if he could cure it. But then there were questions that bothered him. Would the cancer be inoperable? He didn’t like to think about it, but he knew he had to. Sometimes, it was inevitable. He couldn’t save everybody, even if he wanted to. There were people who just couldn’t be cured, no matter how much Lawrence wanted it to happen. Sometimes he couldn’t just take out a tumor or find the red and white blood cell counts and try to change them. There was so much to hate about cancer. It killed far too many people.

But it was his job. And in a way, Lawrence loved it. He didn’t like that people had cancer, of course, but he liked that he was able to help people, figure out how to try to make their lives easier, if he couldn’t save them. At least he could ease some of the pain.

Before John tested him, Lawrence still cared about his patients, just not as much as he did now. Before, he just saw them as somebody who was going to end up dying, and he had to prolong their suffering. Now, he saw it as an opportunity to help ease the burden of a disease that was so awful. Lawrence wanted to help people, he always had. That’s why he spent all those years in school to become an oncologist. But he didn’t treat his patients right before. This was different now. He was different.

Lawrence cared about people.

He regretted how he acted before to people. Lawrence knew some of them were dead now, and felt awful about how he just brushed them aside. He tried all the time now to make sure everything and everybody got exactly what they needed. His test, Jigsaw’s test for him, was necessary. It changed his life. Before, Lawrence was angry, but that changed. He was glad he was tested. He deserved it. Lawrence was better because of Jigsaw’s games. Not everybody felt the same way about John as Lawrence did, though.

That was the main reason he was concerned about Adam’s whereabouts. What if something bad happened to him? What if somebody from his past found him, questioned him? Would Adam talk about where he had been? Would he lie? Was Adam even a good liar? Lawrence wasn’t sure. But he knew one thing for sure: Adam wasn’t here and he was worried about his safety.

He spent the next twenty minutes thinking about what could have possibly happened. He knew he should have been thinking about other things, but Lawrence was stuck on Adam. The young man had changed his life so much. He was such a big part of it now. Lawrence decided he needed to get Adam a cell phone. Before, Lawrence could just call his home phone and Adam would be able to answer it. Now? There was no way to reach him.

Lawrence heard the front door open, interrupting him from his concerns. It hit the wall. This wasn’t a good sign. He sighed, picking his cane up and walked over to where Adam was standing in the foyer. “What happened?” Lawrence asked slowly.

Adam was mad.

It wasn’t just a normal anger, though. He was outraged. Adam stood there with his camera bag over his shoulder, glaring off at the wall, not looking at Lawrence even once. He had already closed, slammed, the front door, and he was standing there, fuming.

“What happened?” Lawrence questioned again, his voice softening even more, but Adam still didn’t speak. His eyes were still narrowed at the wall. There was a painting of a lake house surrounded by trees that his attention was on.

“Where is this?” he demanded as he motioned toward the painting.

“I don’t know. I just bought it. I liked it. Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“It’s pretty. I want to go there. Or somewhere like that. Anywhere. Anywhere that isn’t here. Where that stupid bastard is.”

“Stupid bastard?” Lawrence didn’t understand why Adam was so angry. And who was he talking about? What had happened while he was gone taking pictures of Noah? “Who are you talking about? And maybe we can go somewhere like that in a little while. I have time that I can take off of work in a couple of months. There are cottages and lake houses that you can rent for a few weeks. We can go do that sometime.”

“Hoffman. And that would be great. I would love that. I would love to go right now. Like, literally right now. Go pack a damn bag. I don’t ever want to see that, ugh.” He walked past Lawrence and into the kitchen, groaning once more.

Adam shook his head a little, placing his bag on the kitchen counter. He picked up the last box of fruit snacks and ate all the little fruits in one bite. He opened the camera bag, pulling out a few rolls of film. They forgot to get the stuff to make a dark room, so they had to go back out and get the chemicals, lights, and such. Adam had known what he needed, so it didn’t take a long time. But while he was gone, Lawrence converted one of the bedrooms to be Adam’s dark room. That, he could do.

Lawrence leaned against the counter, watching Adam zip the bag closed after he retrieved the film. Why would he be mad at Hoffman? He wasn’t even there with him. Or was he?

“Did he follow you?” Lawrence asked. Hoffman tended to do those types of things all the time. It had been awful with Adelaide. Hoffman hadn’t trusted her at all. Now he did, but Lawrence doubted Hoffman would be like that with Adam. He just nodded. “What happened?”

He didn’t say anything for a moment. Adam stood motionless. Then he sighed. “I guess he doesn’t trust me,” Adam said, laughing a little. “Surprising, right? Anyway, I guess he followed me to make sure I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. But this is something I’m good at, so he should have trusted me. But he didn’t. He probably never will.”

“I hope he does one day, but he doesn’t right now. You can’t let that bother you, Adam. I don’t know how long it will take for him to trust you. He’s one of those people who think you have to earn their trust. It took him a while to trust Logan, Adelaide, and myself.”

“He sucks. I hate him.”

“I think this is a common thought about Mark Hoffman.”

Adam nodded a little, looking down at the film in his hands. “I should probably go develop them. Hoffman’s probably already waiting upstairs in the closet to make sure I don’t fuck it up.”

He kissed Lawrence’s cheek before walking away. Lawrence had to stifle a laugh at what Adam just said. It was true, though; Hoffman didn’t trust many people. He always watched them, followed them around to make sure people did what they were supposed to do. He wondered if something happened in Hoffman’s past to make him this way. Maybe it was the death of his sister. Lawrence couldn’t be sure. It’s not like Hoffman would ever tell Lawrence anything about his personal life. That was most likely for the best. Lawrence didn’t want to go prying in his past. He didn’t want to uncover anything else that would make Hoffman that much more difficult to be around.

Lawrence sat back down on the couch, turning the television on once Adam was upstairs. The movie, House of 1000’s Corpses, was on. Even though Lawrence was used to seeing the blood and gore, he still didn’t like watching movies that also contained it. So he turned the channel, flipping through them while Adam was making a lot more noise than Lawrence thought necessary.

He stopped on the Cooking Channel. The show Unique Sweets was on. They were talking about some kind of carrot cake that was popular in the Midwest. They put rum in it, which was different than most carrot cakes. Did people put alcohol in carrot cake? He wasn’t sure, but it looked delicious.

“Do you know how to bake?” Adam asked once he finished with the development of his film, flopping down on the couch to Lawrence’s left. He leaned over, resting his head on Lawrence’s shoulder, intertwining their fingers together. Lawrence wrapped his other arm around the younger man’s shoulders, resting his head against Adam’s.

“Not really,” Lawrence replied. “But you do, right? You baked those cookies.”

“I learned how to cook more in Boston. I realized I needed to not just live of Pizza Hut’s food for the rest of my life. I spent a lot of time watching these types of shows to learn how to cook. But I liked baking a lot more than cooking. I like sweet stuff.”

“That’s not surprising, no offense. You seem like the type of person who likes sweet things. But you can cook, too?”

“Thanks. And yeah. I guess. I’ll cook something for you tomorrow. What time are you going to be home?”

“Around seven, probably.”

“Cool. You got any allergies?”

“No.”

“Good. I’ll figure something out, then.”

“Okay. Sounds great.” Adam nuzzled his head against Lawrence’s shoulder, looking back at the television.

They went to bed that night, not long after talking about Adam cooking dinner for Lawrence. Once again, Lawrence wasn’t sure if Adam was going to sleep in the room with him, and was pleasantly surprised when Adam followed him into his room. He was definitely liking this new living arrangement.

 

The following morning, Lawrence woke up to Adam wrapped around him. His arm was around Lawrence’s waist and his leg was around Lawrence’s leg. He couldn’t really move, but Lawrence couldn’t find himself to care. He laid there, feeling the warmth from the young man’s radiating body heat. Lawrence didn’t want to get up. He was too comfortable. More comfortable than he had been in years.

But he had to go to work, so that meant he had to leave Adam.

Adam didn’t wake up when Lawrence moved him off of his body, untangling their legs. He didn’t wake up when Lawrence got off the bed, almost falling to the floor because of the navy blue sheet wrapped around his leg. He didn’t move when Lawrence started the shower. Or when he found clothes and put them on. Apparently Adam was a very heavy sleeper, more so than Lawrence had originally thought.

Once Lawrence was done, he reached over to fix the blanket on Adam’s shoulder. He kissed the younger man’s cheek and left the bedroom. Lawrence wished he could stay there with Adam longer, but knew he had to leave. He would be back there later. But Adam was just such a great addition to Lawrence’s life. He was such an amazing person. And he was entertaining to be around; he was funny. The things he said sometimes distracted Lawrence from his thoughts, making him laugh. Sometimes they were weird, but it also distracted him, so it didn’t matter.

But it had been a while since Lawrence genuinely laughed, so in a way, it did matter.

Adam seemed to be the person to break Lawrence from his otherwise monotonous life. Sure, he had his work, both of them, but it was the same thing, day in and day out. Not much changed during either of them. But adding Adam to the mix made everything that much better. He felt happier than he normally was. Even some of his co workers and usual patients mentioned the difference in Lawrence’s moods to him. He was a better person when Adam was around.

As he unlocked the door to his office and turned on the light, Lawrence noticed an envelope sitting on his desk. Apparently this next test was going to be happening a lot sooner than he thought. Sighing, he shut the door and crossed the room to see what it was. The little desk lamp had been left on over the envelope, so he knew it must have been Hoffman. Adelaide always turned the lights back off after she left something in Lawrence’s office for him.

Once he sat down, Lawrence pulled the little string on his light, turning it off. He then opened the envelope and pulled the files out, lying them on his desk in a neat pile. He noticed there were some pictures in there, as well. Maybe they were of Noah.

No. he pictures were of Adam.

On the back of one of them, Hoffman’s handwriting in black sharpie said, ‘Your boyfriend has to watch his surroundings better’. Lawrence sighed. Maybe Hoffman following Adam hadn’t been such a terrible idea. Of course Lawrence knew Adam knew how to be careful, but he needed to be even more careful now, if he was going to continue on in this field of work. Hoffman had been right to follow Adam.

But Lawrence would never admit this to either of those men. Hoffman’s pride was too much to deal with, and Adam would get angry and offended, which was also a lot to deal with.

So it was better left unsaid.

Lawrence moved the pictures into a little pile on the side of his desk, then began to look through the papers that were in the envelope. Some were of police records, others were juvenile records. There was insurance information, different health reports from multiple hospitals. He was admitted to rehabs and hospitals for bath salts. Who even did bath salts?

As he continued reading, Lawrence found out that Noah had been in the foster care system all his youth. After being given up for adoption as a baby, he went to a family that was arrested for operating a meth lab. When he was two, he was taken from an abusive mother. At four, his older foster brother was trying to sell him for cocaine. Was that even legal? Obviously not, but still. Who would try to sell a family member?

After being in and out of seventeen homes from birth to the age of eleven, Noah’s adoption opportunities slowed down. He eventually stopped getting adopted all together. Instead, he lived in an orphanage with a very bad track record. Lawrence remembered hearing about this place, Heavenly Acres, on the news. They were bad people.

In the orphanage, Noah went to the hospital four times within six months. He had his arm broken, a broken rib, had needed seven stitches on his forearm, and suffered from a rolled ankle. All of these were from other children who were there, or at least that’s what the report said. They could have falsified the report; Lawrence couldn’t believe people could do that to a child, though.

After those six months, another six months passed. Noah was hospitalized for a different reason, in a different hospital. One of the people who was volunteering at the orphanage was a man who was convicted of sexual abuse. He was a pedophile. Noah wasn’t the only person who suffered at the hands of this man, either. Many of the other children in the orphanage filed complaints against him.

The reason he was in the mental institution was because he stabbed the man in the eye after the sexual abuse happened to him. Lawrence felt bad for the kid, but Noah wasn’t a child anymore. Sure, the events that occurred once he matured was caused by the stuff that happened to him in his youth, but it was just an explanation for what happened: it wasn’t an excuse. He didn’t have to kill people.

Noah was a bad man. He went through a lot of trauma, but he was still a murderer. He did a lot of illegal things, and these were just ones the police were able to convict him of. Or the hospitals were able to treat him of. But there were other things that he must have done that were illegal if his record was already this bad. There was always more that people didn’t know about.

Lawrence sighed, leaning back in his swivel chair. He closed his eyes after he placed his reading glasses on his desk. It was always hard to read about what these people had done. Of course there were some things that weren’t that big of a deal to read, but the parts that were, it was difficult to think about. The abuse Noah suffered was heartbreaking, but he still murdered a bunch of young girls. They didn’t deserve to die, just like Noah hadn’t deserved what happened to him.

Those girls wouldn’t be able to grow up, get married. Have jobs. Children. They were dead. There was nothing in this world left for them.

And it was Noah’s fault.

He had to stop thinking about this now, though. He had his work to do. He had patients to visit, colleagues to speak with. There was more in the world that needed Lawrence’s attention other than Noah Dean.

Lawrence took the files and images of Adam, placed them back in the envelope, then put them in his bottom desk drawer. He locked it, grabbed his cane, and stood up. Today was going to be a long one, he could already tell.

 

When he got home, Lawrence could smell the food Adam had cooked from the garage. It was that strong. A good strong, but still strong. He could smell the different spices that were used in the food. Lawrence could smell the garlic and the smoked sausage. Why were those two together? He wasn’t sure, but he was intrigued by whatever it was that Adam was cooking.

He placed his bag on the floor where he normally left it and took his jacket off, hanging it on one of the hooks in the hall closet. Lawrence still wasn’t sure what he cooked, but was already hungry and wanted whatever it was. If it smelled this good, it must taste good. There was no way it wouldn’t taste good. Adam’s cookies had been amazing.

Lawrence walked into the kitchen and found that Adam wasn’t in there. There was some pots and pans on the counter and stove, spoons and knives littered around. All of which were covered in different sauces and other food items. Lawrence anxiously looked at the mess. It bothered him when everything wasn’t perfect. He was a perfectionist, after all. Lawrence was confused about where Adam must be, until he realized he must be in the dining room, setting up the table for dinner.

So he walked down the hall, toward the aforementioned room. Once he got in there, Lawrence found Adam lighting maroon-colored candles. There were plates and wine glasses, along with the main course. He looked up from where he was standing and smiled at Lawrence. “Hello, Lawrence,” he greeted. “Did you have a good day?”

Lawrence crossed the room, wrapping his arm around Adam’s waist, kissing his cheek. “I guess it was okay,” he answered. “I talked to a lot of people. Also, Hoffman left an envelope in my office full of information pertaining to Noah. We can talk about that later. What did you cook? It smells delicious.”

Adam smiled, kissing Lawrence’s cheek. “Thanks. It’s Cajun chicken and sausage Alfredo pasta. Is this the right wine to eat with this?” Lawrence nodded. Red wines were better for meals that included pasta. “Good. I never know what actually pairs with what. I used to just drink a bottle of Jack with everything.”

“Jack Daniels?” Adam nodded. “By itself?” He nodded once more. “Well, you should definitely stop doing that.”

“I know. Here.” He pulled the chair out for Lawrence who smiled and sat down. He had never had somebody pull his chair out for him. It was these little things that Adam did that mattered. He honestly was a caring person. This was another reason why he was glad to have him in his life.

“So how was your day?”

Adam shrugged a little. “Fine, I guess. I’ve been trying to find recipes to make. I liked this one better than others. But there are others I’m going to make.”

The two sat together and began their meal. They weren’t really talking about anything of real importance. It was more just about their days, what their plans for tomorrow was. Everything was basically the same as it always was. But this food, Lawrence had Cajun chicken before, but it wasn’t nearly as good as Adam’s. It was different. It was better than the other chicken he had. The young man apparently could cook very well.

“So what did you find out about Noah?” Adam asked, drinking more of his wine after they finished eating. “Or what did Adelaide find out? She’s the one that did it, right?”

“Yes,” Lawrence nodded. “She’s always the one who finds things out about the people we test. Noah is, well, he’s not a great person, of course. He’s not even a good person. He never had a good life. He was in foster care for his entire youth. He’s been to jail, brought to hospitals, checked into rehabs, forced to go to mental institutions. The list goes on. You can read them. Or, actually, you should read them. You’re going to need to know everything about him, as well.”

Lawrence rose from his seat to retrieve his bag. Once he was back to the table, he sat down and took the envelope out. Adam reached across the table to take the manila envelope from his hand.

Right before he was about to ask for it back to take the photographs of Adam out, Lawrence watched him read the note on the back of one of them. He was too late. Lawrence wished he had put them in a different place, so Adam wouldn’t have seen them. His eyes narrowed a little, but he didn’t say anything. Adam looked up at Lawrence.

“What the hell is this?” he demanded.

“He just wanted to make sure you were doing everything right,” Lawrence began, but stopped talking. He wasn’t sure how to word what he wanted to say. He didn’t want to tell Adam that it was good Hoffman followed him, because anybody could have followed him and hurt him, asked what he was doing, or something else of that nature.

Adam’s eyes were still narrowed as he looked through the images of himself. Slowly, the anger left his features and his eyes returned to their normal size. “I guess he’s sort of right. And he called me your boyfriend, so that’s nice.” He smiled a little at that part.

“So we’re dating?” Lawrence knew there was something between them, of course, but he hadn’t thought it would be considered dating. At least not right now. But apparently everybody else saw the two of them as boyfriends. Adelaide had seen it before anything had even happened between the two men.

“Obviously. We’ve already had sex, like, a bunch of times. And I’ve cooked for you. And you’ve spent a bunch of money on me. Honestly, we’re hardly dating. If anything, you’re my sugar daddy.”

Lawrence laughed at the assumption. “You think I’m your sugar daddy?”

Adam smiled up at him, looking away from Noah’s files. “Yes. Sugar Daddy. I could call you daddy, if you want.”

“Um, no. That’s okay. Just read the files.”

He nodded, his lips still curved into a smile. That look quickly left as he read about Noah’s past. Lawrence stayed with him while he read, writing one of his reports that he needed to share with one of his colleagues next week. It was about this older woman who had inoperable brain cancer. It was awful, but she still seemed pretty cheery. Lawrence hoped that he could be that way if he ever found something bad out about himself.

“This man’s awful,” Adam said once he finished reading the files Adelaide had found on Noah.

“What?” Lawrence asked as he finished his last sentence and closed his computer. He looked back at Adam who was frowning. Even when he looked like this, Lawrence found Adam one of the most attractive people he had ever seen.

“This man sucks. He’s been through some bad shit, but that doesn’t mean he has to be a dick. He killed like, twelve fourteen year old girls, right? That, what the hell is that? Sure, bad things happen, but it doesn’t mean you have to become a murderer.” Adam stopped talking for a second, but quickly continued. “I was about to say I had bad things happen to me and I didn’t become a murderer, but that would be a lie. I did kill somebody. But still. Not like, a bunch of little girls.”

“Yes, that’s right. It was to save our lives. He killed those young girls, the coach, and the bus driver for no reason. They didn’t deserve to die.”

“No, they didn’t. When is the game going to happen? How long does it take between all this stuff?”

“I’m not sure if they’ve even finished what his test is actually going to be yet, Adam. But it’ll be soon, a couple of days probably.”

“Good. I hope he learns not to be a disgusting person. And if he dies, I don’t think I’ll feel too bad for him.”

Lawrence agree with Adam. To an extent, that is. Noah had done some horrible things, but the ones that happened to him would most likely haunt Lawrence’s thoughts. At least for a little while. He might as well just buy a journal and write down all the names of the people he thought about at night.

Adam drank more of his wine. Lawrence nodded a little, picking up his own glass. “So do you want me to cook for you tomorrow, or what?”

“No, I’m gonna cook. I like cooking. Do you want anything specific?”

“No, nothing specific. Anything you want to make is fine.”

“Same time?”

“Most likely.”

“Good. Come along.”

“Where are we going? The kitchen’s a mess, Adam. There’s so much to clean up.”

“It can wait, Lawrence.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the actual test. It'll take a little bit to come up with the trap and such, though, I've already started it.


	15. Leukemia: Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This starts off as a flashback of Lawrence's, but moves back into the present. It explains some of his self-centered tenancies. There's some sad things, like leukemia. Somebody dies, but she's not a real character, so that's kind of okay. There's also not a lot of Adam.

He was driving down the road, through a thick forest of dark oak trees on either side of him. The Appalachian Mountains sat on his left, the open road laid ahead while the signs were on his right. Lawrence leaned back in the driver’s seat, the radio on a soft classical music station. This was some of his favorite music. It was playing one of Luigi Boccherini’s cello concertos. He was alone, the sun hadn’t risen yet, and he was at peace. There was nothing in the world that was holding him back.

Lawrence was free.

The only thing that held him was the road. And he was the only one on it for a miles. He hadn’t passed another car for almost three hours. Lawrence was truly alone, free to do whatever he wanted. The world was his, and he was going to take it. Nobody could stop him. Lawrence was his own man, with his own plan. Nobody had any say in his life. He was in complete control.

Lawrence was about to go to college, in a couple of weeks. He was ready to begin his journey through college, to graduate school, and onto medical school. This had always been his plan, for as long as he could remember. Lawrence was a particular type of person like that; he had to have everything planned out in front of him. He had to think a little. Lawrence needed the full picture.

He wanted to help people, but he also wanted to make money. That was a big thing for Lawrence. He needed that nest egg. It was part of his plan. Lawrence needed to have people look up to him, their approval, be proud of the man he was eventually going to become. He wanted to change the world, make it better for himself. And everybody else, of course. But he was the main person he cared about. He wanted to get everything out of life that he possibly could.

It didn’t matter how long it took him to get where he wanted to go. Lawrence just knew he wanted to get ahead in life; he knew it would take time for his plan to reach fruition. He wanted to be able to learn amazing things and have a lot of money. Of course money wasn’t the main thing, but Lawrence knew he definitely wanted to make a lot of it. That’s what so many people's’ dreams are: have money. He also wanted to get married, but that could wait. He wasn’t sure about having children, but he knew that it was going to happen sometime. Hopefully just one kid. A daughter. That’s all he wanted, but it might not happen that way. That’s how life worked. But Lawrence was going to do everything in his power to make that come true.

Go to school.

Get a job.

Find somebody to marry.

Have a kid or two.

That’s what life had in store for Lawrence, and he couldn’t wait. It’s what life had in store for so many people, yet they never did anything with them. Lawrence wasn’t going to be like that. He knew the opportunity he was given, and he was going to make the most of it. There was so much in life that he wanted, and Lawrence knew he was the only person that could give him what he wanted. There was too much riding on this scholarship he got, he already knew. Lawrence needed to be perfect. Everything had to be perfect.

Perfection.

This was his downfall. Lawrence knew he focused way too much on the perfectionist side of himself. He believed if it wasn’t done exactly right the first time, why do it again? Why even both with it from the beginning if he knew it wasn’t going to go exactly as planned? This was a bad state of mind to have, but he also felt like it helped him. Lawrence knew he had to be perfect the first time. It’s all that mattered.

That’s why he was leaning toward Oncology. This was one of the three specialties Lawrence read about and wanted to go for. He already knew the type of person he was, so he needed to make a decision. Otherwise, he would do all three options and work himself to death. That’s what happened in high school: Lawrence took way too many honors classes.

But that didn’t change the fact that he wanted to be able to help people. Lawrence wanted to be an amazing doctor. He wanted to figure out the correct treatment the first time, no matter how difficult the type of cancer was. And if he couldn’t, well, he just couldn't. There was no hope left for the patient.

Of course Lawrence knew he couldn’t actually tell the people, his future patients, that there was no hope in finding a cure to their cancer. Or maybe he could? He probably would; he didn’t put it past himself. Lawrence didn’t want to give anyone false hope. He wanted people to know what was going to happen. He didn’t want them to think of other option, talk to different doctors that could offer them something else, when there was actually nothing that could be done.

No, Lawrence wanted to be the best there was; he needed to be the best there was. He didn’t want anybody else to know more than him. He wanted to be the top oncologist.

Lawrence guessed he was going into Oncology, then. He decided it in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by no life. He was alone in the world right now, and he loved it. It gave him a chance to be alone with his thoughts. But he still knew that this field of study was going to be difficult. But he would be able to figure it out. Lawrence always did.

This was going to take hard work, but Lawrence knew he could handle it. After all, he could handle anything life threw at him. He handled all the schoolwork all his life. Maybe sometimes he cracked under pressure, but it was rare. He handled the relationships and friendships with ease. He managed to cut off a lot of people in his life. He didn’t even feel all that bad about it. Even the friends he’d had since he was seven years old. They didn’t matter, not really. Not anymore.

Lawrence was certain he would be able to handle the dream of being a doctor. It had been his dream for so many years. He just had to be able to handle it.

So why was he in the Appalachian Mountains? Why was he so far away from home? Away from the college he was going to soon be attending? Away from his friends and family?

Lawrence wasn’t sure.

Maybe it was because he didn’t have anybody left. Nobody understood him. Nobody thought he could do what he wanted to do. No one thought he could handle the pressures of becoming a specialist. Lawrence would prove them all wrong. But there were still some people he wanted to see again. Or maybe he needed to see again? Lawrence wasn’t sure which one.

Honestly, he didn’t know why he wanted to be away from everyone. It wasn’t even just a desire: it was a need. Lawrence needed to be away from everybody. It seemed like everybody was holding him back. They didn’t believe in him.

That’s what it was.

He was being held back.

Lawrence leaned back in his seat, traveling down the empty road. His mother told him to come home, yet he couldn’t. His father did the same. Still, he didn’t respond. He didn’t have the energy to pretend to care about what his family was going through. He didn’t care that his friends were moving away, going to their own colleges. It didn’t matter that he wouldn’t see them for a long time, if ever, again. Lawrence didn’t even feel bad about breaking up with his high school sweetheart. None of that mattered to him.

What mattered to Lawrence? Himself. He needed to focus on his own wants, needs, ambitions, desires. He needed to get away from those who were holding him back. They didn’t matter anymore. They couldn’t matter anymore. He had to cut them all off.

Lawrence watched as the sky turned from twilight purple to baby blue to a cotton candy pink. The sun was beginning to rise, so he pushed his sunglasses up on the bridge of his nose. Lawrence felt the sun on his cheeks and almost smiled, basking in the warmth. It didn’t matter where he went. It didn’t matter how long it took to get there.

All that matter was that he actually got there in the end.

 

Lawrence looked out the window. It was raining. It had been for two days straight. He sighed, leaning back in his seat in his office. Lawrence closed his eyes, rubbing them until he saw little stars. He should have been going home right now. He should have been eating dinner with Adam. Lawrence was supposed to be on his way out the door.

But he just got word that one of his patients had died.

He was devastated.

Lawrence’s patient, Melanie Nordberg, was a fourteen year old girl. She had leukemia. It seemed like so many people died from the disease, but Lawrence had high hopes. That was a hard disease to have, he knew. The blood cancer. It was hard to comprehend how this happened. Melanie was doing so well. She had been happy, getting lots of rests. She was getting better. Leukemia was very rarely curable, but Melanie seemed to be one of those that could survive this cancer. She was one of those people who could survive anything.

So why did this happen?

And then he got the news she didn’t make it? How? Melanie died forty-seven minutes ago. Lawrence was heartbroken. This young girl didn’t deserve this awful disease. She should have made it out alive. She fought so hard to live. Lawrence guessed her mind just wasn’t as strong as her body. Or what was inside of her body, that is. She shouldn’t have died from cancer. She was a little girl. Melanie was supposed to be outside with her friends, playing. Having a childhood.

But no.

Melanie was in the hospital with a disease that so few could survive.

Lawrence wanted to yell at something, anything, but he knew he couldn’t. He also wanted to cry, but knew he wouldn’t be able to stop if he started. There was nobody to blame for what had happened. Lawrence, and a few others, found the best treatment plan for Melanie. It was executed the right way. Everything should have went according to plan. The young girl should have lived. She should be happy, out with her friends. She should be alive. Melanie should have had the chance to have a life. Fall in love.

She wasn’t, though. Melanie was dead. Lawrence knew that. There was nothing he could do about it. All he could think of was that summer before college, the one where he just up and left, never looking back. Sometimes he felt like doing that. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t tried. There were other doctors here, other accomplices there. The world didn’t need Lawrence Gordon. At least the people here didn’t need him.

Lawrence wanted to get away. He wished he could go back to the Appalachian Mountains, try to focus on himself, or at least try to figure himself out. He wasn’t sure what was going on. There were so many changes in Lawrence’s life over these past five years, and it seemed like nothing was slowly down. His emotions were contradicting themselves. He was sad for Melanie’s death, along with how her family was going to react. But he was also wistful. He wasn’t a suicidal person, but Lawrence sometimes thought of what life would be like without him. He often wondered what it would be like to be freed from the body, this world.

He didn’t know what would happen. Lawrence didn’t know how many lives would be affected by his death, if there would even be that many people affected. Would there be a lot? Would anyone truly care that he was gone? He couldn’t name more than five people who would actually care whether or not they saw Lawrence again.

Lawrence hadn’t spoken to his family in years. Not his parents, cousins, aunts, or uncles. His grandparents were all dead, so they couldn’t be reached, anyway. He didn’t see his daughter all the time. He didn’t talk to her as much as he should. Alison used to try to keep them close in the past, but over the years, that stopped. He knew it was his fault; Lawrence shut himself off from all his personal ties and just continued on in his profession.

He knew this was something he needed to change about himself. Lawrence knew he couldn’t keep cutting everybody out of his life. There were people who actually cared about him. He need to let those people in.

Having Adam around was helping with that, but it wasn’t something that could happen overnight. Lawrence couldn’t just change the person he was just because this man was in his life. Of course he wanted to, but he knew change took some time. And he was willing take the time to do it. He honestly was. But Lawrence wasn’t sure if he could get close to any of the people he left behind so many years ago.

He sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Lawrence wondered if he was depressed. Not just thinking that he was depressed because he sometimes got sad or didn’t care about anything at times, but truly manically depressed. He couldn’t be sure, but maybe he was. It sure would explain a lot of the things he thought about, the emotions he felt. He should find that out.

Time slipped by without him noticing. Three hours passed. He was still sitting in his chair, wishing for better days. Or at least hoping the future was better. Lawrence needed it to get better than it was. He did. He needed to go home. He had to tell Adam what happened. The younger man, the only man who cared for him, was back at his house. Lawrence needed Adam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I will add more Adam the next chapter. It might be the next game. I sometimes say things that don't actually come true when they're supposed to, though they always do end up happening.


	16. Sharing Memories: Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter. Adam's photographer side comes out in it. Lawrence brings Adam to a personal place, one where he very rarely brings anybody. It's sort of sentimental, and it begins to set up later chapters.

Lawrence was sitting on the couch, waiting for Adam to finish getting ready. It was a few days since the last set of tests that the accomplices had performed. Noah hadn’t made it. This wasn’t shocking to Lawrence. His test had been interesting to Lawrence, though. They used a lot of chains or nooses in their traps, but Noah had both. He ended up getting hanged in the town’s abandoned health clinic, the place where he murdered all those young girls. Lawrence felt it was a fitting place for the man to die. He was a bad person, fighting most of his life to survive by doing awful things to innocent people. But when it came to actually surviving the Jigsaw test, Noah couldn’t figure out how to do it. He deserved what he got.

But that was six days ago. He had to move on.

The other accomplices were talking about what was going to happen next. They were possibly planning something this exact moment, but Lawrence wasn’t there. He needed a break. Adam wasn’t, either. They needed to get away for a few hours. These past few days had been stressful. Maybe not physically stressful, but mentally and emotionally stressful for sure.

There was a reporter on the news that said the police were looking into the Jigsaw case once more. This always happened, though, this time was different. Apparently the police were talking to the people who had survived. Lawrence didn’t understand why this was happening, but he was uneasy about it. They hadn’t contacted him yet, so he was very paranoid now, making sure nobody was watching him. What could they possibly be looking for? Did they believe somebody from the past was helping?

There were people from the past helping, of course. He was. Logan was; well he wasn’t really known for being a victim, not exactly. Nobody knew he was actually ever in one of the tests. He lied about where he got the scars from his game. He said it was from being tortured in the army. But Adam was known for being in the test. And in a way, Hoffman was, too. The police didn’t know about Hoffman’s involvement, not anymore, but he still survived the Jigsaw trap he was placed in, so Lawrence was including him in this list. The only good thing Hoffman did was that he killed all of the people who believed he was a part of it, and destroyed the evidence when it was realized, so he should be in the clear.

But what about the others? What if some of the other survivors knew something. What about Adam, himself? Perhaps Hoffman? What if they tried to talk to him about everything? And what if somebody believed Logan to be a part of it, somehow? Lawrence wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

Of course, nothing could happen at all. Lawrence had to acknowledge that theory, too. They might just be looking for more clues, trying to figure out who the other accomplice, or accomplices, were. Like the police were always attempting to do. Lawrence couldn’t be sure of anything. Not until something concrete happened with any of the survivors.

All of this could come crashing down on them. Lawrence didn’t want that to happen. He was helping shape the world to be a better place by making the people who inhabited it better. He and the others were rehabilitating people. They were making people better, something nobody else had figured out how to do.

But they had. John started it. Logan helped further it with Amanda and Hoffman. Then Lawrence began to broaden the Jigsaw name. Adelaide was included after him, and now Adam was a part of all this. All of them were making people better.

So it couldn’t possibly stop.

Maybe if it did stop for them, somebody would become a copycat Jigsaw, like Hoffman did at one point. That was before he was even an accomplice, though. He was helping before he even knew what he was doing. Perhaps John’s legacy wouldn’t end with the accomplices’ deaths. It hadn’t with John’s. Or Amanda’s. They would be changing the world for the better. They had been all these years.

The Jigsaw legacy was never going to end.

It couldn’t.

It shouldn’t.

“Lawrence?” Adam startled Lawrence from his thoughts.

He looked up at the younger man, staring at his confused expression. “Yes?” Lawrence replied. “Sorry. I was, thinking about some things. Are you ready to go?”

“Uh, yeah. Where are we going again?”

“I never told you were we were going, Adam. Come along. I think you’ll like it, though. Maybe. Hopefully.”

The two men walked out of the house and got into the car. Adam held his camera bag on his lap as Lawrence began to drive the forty-five minute journey to their destination. He was taking Adam to a place Lawrence hadn’t been in a long time. It was a place he should have been, but part of him just couldn’t. He felt guilty for not going there. Maybe he could go more often now. Maybe he had the strength to go more now that a few years had passed.

Adam watched the trees fly by; Lawrence watched the empty road. It was a little after nine in the morning on a cool November Tuesday. Everybody was already at work, so there were hardly any cars on the road. Lawrence listened to the song Adam left on the radio. Like always, he didn’t know what the song was. Before the song began, the radio host said it was Have Faith in Me by A Day to Remember. It was obvious Adam knew the song, though. The lyric that played at what he assumed was the chorus was, “I said I’d never let you go, and I never did. I said I’d never let you fall, and I always meant it. If you didn’t have the chance, then I never did. You’ll always find me right there, again.”

He wasn’t actually singing the song, but Adam was mumbling to the words. Lawrence had to admit, this was one of the better songs Adam let play on the radio. Some of them were, well, bad. Not this one, though. He smiled a little as Adam continued doing this throughout the song and into the next one that played. Lawrence was happy that Adam was still that easily entertained person. He could be distracted by just about anything, Lawrence learned, but Adam was still a bright person. It was nice that after all the bad things that happened to him, Adam could still find happiness in things.

“So,” Adam said as Lawrence opened the car door after parking near the front of the parking lot, close to the gates that led into the place Lawrence decided to bring Adam to that day. “Why are we at a cemetery?”

“You said you liked taking pictures of places nobody is at,” Lawrence replied. “You don’t like when there’s people in the scenery; you wanted it to be open. And there’s nobody here. Well, there are people here, but they won’t be interrupting us.”

“That’s. Wait, what? That’s so morbid, Lawrence.” But he still smiled up at him. Lawrence returned it with his own grin.

When Adam didn’t say anything else, Lawrence began walking in the direction toward the gate with Adam following suit. Soon, they were holding hands when they entered the large cemetery.

“But why this one?” Adam asked after a moment of walking in the eerily quiet cemetery. Normally there were birds chirping and the wind howling, but today, there was nothing. It wasn’t windy, it was cloudy, and there wasn’t a chance for sunlight to peek through the dense gray clouds. They were alone in this desolate place. “Is there a reason? Whitewood Cemetery? Are, like, do you have somebody here?”

“Just take pictures, Adam,” Lawrence said softly, looking around at the cemetery. Yes, he had people here, but now wasn’t the time to bring that up. Lawrence would talk to Adam about his family later. It was peaceful here right now, but it was also slightly uncomfortable.

Adam, on the other hand, seemed to find it very welcoming. He freely walked around like he had been here every day since childhood. Lawrence didn’t understand why he was like this. Adam seemed to find positive thoughts in the darkest, strangest places and things. He seemed so comfortable in the most uncomfortable places.

The two men walked around for a while, Lawrence letting Adam lead the way. They walked down the paths, between graves, near the trees, just about anywhere people were allowed to go in a cemetery. Adam had already put two rolls of film into his camera, taking pictures on the third roll.

There were weeping willows and sycamore trees lining the sides of the cemetery, blocking the outside view of the world. The headstones were older, yet not crumbling just yet, made from granite or marble. A few were bronze. There were different flowers on the graves, bright pink, white, and yellow gladiolus, chrysanthemums, and carnations. A couple had roses or orchids of the same colors. There were little stuffed animals leaned against some of the headstones. There were cold, black metal gates lining the cemetery, the only coldness that came from the cemetery. Some of the trees had birds’ nests in them. There were a few people in the cemetery, but they were on the other side, far away from Lawrence and Adam.

Adam took pictures of all of these things.

Lawrence knew the pictures were going to turn out nice. Adam was a great photographer, at least Lawrence believed he was. He looked at the different pictures he had taken over the past few days. A lot of them were of the sun setting and rising, people walking on the sidewalks, the trees behind Lawrence’s home. Somehow, Lawrence felt something different while looking at each picture. Some made him happy, some were sad, while others made him nostalgic. That’s what was supposed to happen while looking at art: it was supposed to make people feel things.

And Lawrence had felt many different emotions.

He let Adam lead the way during their time at the cemetery since the moment they walked in. They had been there for almost two hour already, but now, Lawrence decided to bring Adam to the place where he planned to go all along. Sure, he had wanted Adam to see all the cemetery, but his main reason for coming here was where they were going next.

“Come along,” Lawrence said, gently taking Adam’s arm in his hand. He held his cane with his other hand as he began to walk them down the path toward another section of the cemetery, one where most people weren’t actually allowed to go unless they had a key.

Once they got there, Lawrence pulled the key from his pocket. It was a large brass key, with little swirled designs on the bow of the key. There was a capital G printed in the middle of the swirls.

“What’s that?” Adam asked, watching Lawrence unlock the gate, pushing it open. “Why do you have a key?” 

“This is where my family is buried,” Lawrence responded once they were inside the section for the Gordon family. He placed the key back in his pocket, closing the gate quietly behind himself and Adam.

“Oh.” That’s all Adam said as the two walked toward the middle of the graves. Lawrence stopped walking and looked at Adam. He was already taking a picture of the entire area of the Gordon's family's graves. Lawrence looked around at the different ones, knowing who was where in the medium sized lot. His grandparents were on the far left, his great-grandmother was two to the right of them. His aunts and uncles and their wives or husbands were on the far right, their children the rows after them. There were fresh flowers, all different types, there, in front of each black marble headstone.

At the end of the small cemetery was a large black gazebo with a small garden planted around it. The flowers in the garden were sunflowers, which meant adoration for the Gordon family. Lawrence and the other living Gordon family members each took turns keeping up the cemetery, making sure there were fresh flowers, the lot was clean, the gazebo’s paint wasn’t chipped. This was their family; they wanted their final resting place to be nice. It didn’t matter the cost. And it was costly. But Lawrence didn’t care. They were his cousins, grandparents. Parents.

After about ten minutes of Adam standing there, looking around and taking pictures, he turned to Lawrence. “So this is where your family is buried?” he asked. It came out quietly, almost a whisper. This was a little different for Adam, but Lawrence liked when he showed different sides to himself. So he nodded a little, walking over toward one of the last graves that had been dug, about seven years ago. Adam followed him over to it.

Lawrence wasn’t sure why he thought this was a good idea. Should he have waited? No, probably not. This was for the best. Maybe he just wanted to share something personal to Adam, something he hadn’t let anybody see before. Diana and Alison had been to the cemetery before, but he didn’t like coming here with others. He normally just came alone. Adelaide had asked about his family, if they were still alive. Once she found out they weren’t, Lawrence noticed the way she acted differently. One day, she asked if she could see the cemetery they were buried in. Of course, Lawrence declined that request.

He didn’t want to share personal things like this with others. It wasn’t exactly personal, but Lawrence didn’t want to share certain things with certain people. He didn’t mean anything by it, though. Hoffman would have never asked something like that. Lawrence felt like the man just wouldn’t care to go to a cemetery with him. Logan hadn’t asked about it, either. But neither had Adam.

And here they were.

Lawrence felt like Adam needed to see this part of Lawrence. He wanted Adam to know all these things about him, be able to share these emotions, memories, with Lawrence. He wanted to open himself up completely to Adam. And the only way this was going to happen was if Lawrence brought him here.

“My grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins,” Lawrence began as he motioned around the Gordon cemetery. “They’re all here. And this, this is my father.” He motioned to the grave in front of him. He always found it hard to come here and see his father’s grave. His mother was already here. She died ten years ago, three before his father. “And this is my mother.” Lawrence motioned to the headstone to the right.

“I’m sorry,” Adam said softly after a moment. Lawrence looked at him, but Adam was staring down at the headstones. He didn’t look away from Lawrence’s mother’s headstone. It had her name, Rosemary Anne Gordon. Loving mother, daughter, aunt, sister, and grandmother. There were light pink chrysanthemums, her favorite, leaning against the headstone.

“It’s okay.”

Lawrence moved closer to Adam, resting his arm around Adam’s waist. He leaned into Lawrence, finally looking up at him. There was a softness in Adam’s eyes, an expression that very rarely appeared on the younger man’s face. “Thanks for bringing me here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took a long time to come out. I had a lot going on. But I have a couple more chapters planned out, and hopefully will be posting one each day or every other day over the next couple of days. Thanks for both the patience and reading!


	17. And They Fight: Adam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter, sort of a filler chapter. I know that it's not long or really explanatory or anything, but here is a little more story showing the relationships and development (or lack thereof) between the characters.

When Lawrence looked at the screens in front of him, he knew this was going to be just like all the other games he watched in the past. Like always. Nothing seemed to change. Part of him hoped things would be different, but nothing ever changed. He thought about this with every test, hoped for something new, yet nobody was ever different.

Lawrence wondered if he should stop doing this.

The outcome was always going to be the same. He was going to end up watching people die because they wouldn’t give up their pride. He couldn’t help but think about going to that place, the painting Adam talked about before, escaping this life and living there. It sounded like a good idea.

Especially now, with all this repetition.

So here’s how it would go: the people would wake up, they would be confused, then they would become angry, then the tape would play, some would panic, others would continue fighting, then the time would count down and somebody would end up dying. Or they would all end up dying. It was human nature, and Lawrence wished he could change this.

But alas, he couldn’t.

Sure, he could change the way people tried to survive. He could test their limits, make them see the extent of what they needed to do in order to survive. But Lawrence knew he couldn’t change people as a whole. There would always be people that wouldn’t want to help one another, try to survive together. But then there were the others who only focused on themselves. And because of this, nothing different would happen until it was too late.

So Lawrence sat in front of the computer monitors, waiting for the next group of people to wake up.

This group of four people worked together in a health insurance company, Greenvale Inc. The first one, a man, was the CFO of the company. His name was Brandon Schmidt, thirty-four years old. He had dark red hair, blue eyes, and always wore expensive three piece suits. His problem was that he lied about, well, everything. He lied about where the money went and came from, how much everything costed, the amount he paid people, the number of employees he had, the number of members he was supposed to help. Brandon was lying about basically everything, which hurt all the people involved with the health insurance company, employees and members.

The second person, the other man who was a part of this test, was named Ryan Miller. He was twenty-seven years old, a brunette with dark features. He worked in the Operations part of the health insurance company. Ryan’s problem was that he made accounts for people who both couldn’t afford it, and denied people coverage for small reasons that weren’t necessarily deemed ineligible. Lawrence didn’t understand how he could let some people, who were worse off, get insurance, but deny others who were more worthy. He guessed it was the money they earned that was driving his thought process, but Lawrence still didn’t quite understand how that could work.

Gretchen Reyes, a thirty-six year old blonde woman with green eyes was the same as Ryan. She did the same things as he did, which led to many people getting hurt, losing their homes, loved ones, or inevitably dying. Lawrence couldn’t understand why somebody would put others in this position when they knew they couldn’t handle what was being thrown at them. It was terrible. They were both terrible.

Another person, the last woman, was just as bad as the others. Her name was Jennifer Monroe, twenty-eight years old with red hair and green eyes. She was a beautiful woman who could persuade anybody into anything. Jennifer was an accountant, and she managed to put some people so far into debt, that there was no way they could get out of it, definitely not in one lifetime. She stole money from people, putting it into her own accounts that nobody knew about. She was one of the worse ones of the bunch.

Lawrence sat in silence as he waited for the four businessmen and women to wake up from their sedatives. He wondered how close they were, friend-wise. If they were relatively friendly with one another, then maybe they would work together and surprise Lawrence by actually surviving. But he couldn’t hold onto that hope for long. He knew that’s not the way they were going to be.

“But why does it matter?” Adam demanded, startling Lawrence from his thoughts.

When Lawrence glanced over to where Adam was, he found the younger man standing in front of Hoffman with his arms crossed, eyes narrowed up at the middle-aged man, whose hand was resting on his hip, scowling back at Adam. What could they possibly be arguing about now? It was only the second day back to the Jigsaw work after Lawrence brought Adam to the cemetery, and Hoffman and Adam were already at high tensions with one another.

“Because it does,” Hoffman stated, also crossing his arms. “If you don’t like it, leave.”

“It’s not that I don’t like it,” Adam argued. “It’s just that, it doesn’t make sense. Why does it matter so much to you?”

“Things need to be organized, Stanheight.”

“You know I have two last names, right? Why do you always just call me the one? No. Why can’t you just use my first name?”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“But why? You make me do things that I don’t want to do. Why can’t you just call me by my first name? That’s, fucking stupid. What the hell? And why do you care so much about organization? Are things really that important to you? I don’t get why me not putting that folder underneath the other one matters so much. It really shouldn’t. Are you like, OCD or something, about that stuff?”

Lawrence sighed, looking back at the computer screens, hoping somebody would wake up and the two men would stop arguing because the test would finally begin. But no, that’s not what happened. Instead, the argument continued. Hoffman was a very organized person and needed to be in control of everything. Lawrence probably should have warned Adam about Hoffman’s strictness.

He sighed as the two continued arguing about the lack of Adam’s organizational skills. Lawrence felt like this conversation was going to last a long time, and it wasn’t going to stay on this topic. That’s always how it seemed to happen with these two; they would start fighting about something trivial, then moved onto the next topic and things would just escalate into something too big and completely unnecessary, and he would have to fix it. Lawrence didn’t want to deal with this tonight.

“Did you have to bring that up?” Adam said angrily. Lawrence looked over at the two again at this point. Maybe he should have been listening to their conversation the whole time, in case Hoffman said something too aggressive to Adam and he could have stopped him.

“Are you actually offended by that?” Hoffman scoffed.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I don’t get why you would ask that. Why would you even think that was okay to ask?”

“Are you serious, Stanheight?”

“Yes, Hoffman. I’m serious. Why the hell wouldn’t I be serious? And why can’t you call me Adam?”

“I don’t understand why somebody would get angry about being asked that.”

“You can’t just ask people things like that. Why the hell do think that’s okay?”

“What are you guys fighting about now?” Adelaide questioned warily, walking over to where Lawrence was sitting, leaning against the tall table the computer monitors were sitting on top of. She had just entered the room, apparently, missing what the two were fighting about, just like Lawrence had missed it.

“He asked if I had ever owned a dog before,” Adam snappily answered.

Why would that make Adam so angry? Lawrence wasn’t sure, but he tried to think of a reason. His eyes narrowed a little in thought as he watched the two men glare back at one another. Adelaide sighed, closing her eyes, just as annoyed by this as Lawrence was. At least somebody found their constant bickering as irritating as Lawrence.

“He’s offended by it,” Hoffman retorted. “Who gets offended by that kind of question?”

“It’s the way you asked it! You always act like I can’t do anything, like I can’t take care of anything!”

“Because I honestly don’t think you can take care of anything. You can barely take care of yourself. I don’t get how you’re still alive. How are you even alive, Stanheight?”

“Why can’t you just call me Adam! I don’t get it! And I can take care of myself! I’ve taken care of myself all these years! Obviously I’m still alive! Why wouldn’t I be able to take care of myself? That’s such a stupid ass question!”

“Wait a second,” Adelaide interrupted, trying not to smile at the unnecessary shouting coming from Adam. Hoffman was glaring at Adam, who returned the icy stare. “What does that have to do with owning a dog? Why do you think Adam can’t take care of anything?”

“You’ve met him,” Hoffman said, finally looking away from Adam as he motioned toward him. “Does he really look like he’s capable of taking care of anything? Because before we took him the first time, I had to watch him for a little while, and he didn’t eat anything other than chicken nuggets and Jack Daniels.”

“Now why do you have to bring that up?” Adam demanded, shouting it at Hoffman once again. “I know the way I used to live. Why do you have to keep bringing shit up from the past? We didn’t even know each other back then! And I’m glad as hell I didn’t know you. I wish I didn’t know you now. You fucking suck, Hoffman.”

“I wouldn’t want to know you, either, Stanheight. I still don’t want to know you, and yet, here you are.”

“You’re like, the worst person I’ve met in my life. I hate being around you. You’re the worst person.”

“It seems like you always repeat everything.”

“Okay,” Lawrence said. All three of the people in the room finally broke eye contact and looked at him. Adelaide was still trying to hold back her amusement, Adam’s eyes were wide with rage, and Hoffman looked like he was going to punch somebody. So it was Lawrence’s turn to get into this fight. “Look, you two have been arguing about the most trivial things. They don’t matter. Hoffman, you need to stop being so precise about every little thing. And Adam, you need to get a little more organized.”

“See?” Hoffman said, motioning toward Lawrence. “Even your boyfriend agrees you need to be more organized. Do it.”

“He told you to stop being so precise about every damn thing, Hoffman,” Adam snapped back. Lawrence heard Adelaide sigh as she finally turned away from the bickering men.

“They’re awake,” she said after a few seconds.

“Good,” Lawrence muttered. “Now, stop fighting, you two. We have work to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this one was so short. I haven't written anything in a while, and wanted to do something shorter to get me back into writing. I also hope to progress this story more, but I don't know how far I can go. Obviously, none of this happened in the movies, and there's a lot I can do because of that, but I'm still not sure how many more chapters I'm going to write. Or how this story is going to end.
> 
> But thank you to all of you who have continued or started reading my story, even though I haven't written anything in a while!


	18. Game Over: Adam and Lawrence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter to my Saw story. It wraps everything up, for the most part. The games don't stop, and neither does Adam and Lawrence's relationship.

Lawrence sat on the bench, staring off at the children running around, playing in the park. They were playing soccer in the grass, swinging on the swings, sliding down slides. They were so young, so carefree. Free. He sighed, leaning back, wondering if he should try to bring Diana here one last time. Sure, she was getting old, but was she too old to play at the park anymore? Probably, Lawrence sighed again.

He was exactly sure why he had chosen the park. There were many people there, all being able to tell who Adam and Lawrence were. What if somebody recognized them? He guessed it didn’t really matter. It’s not like people could tie them to being accomplices. Or maybe they could. Maybe he wanted them to.

No. Lawrence didn’t want the recognition. Or the jail sentence.

Almost two months had passed since the fight between Hoffman and Adam. There was a lot of bitterness between the men, and many more arguments, but they were working it out. Sort of, at least that’s what Lawrence thought. The accomplices had completed four other tests and were in the middle of planning a fifth. Everything in life seemed to be going the same way that it always had.

And that meant it was dragging on. And on. And on.

And on.

Lawrence wasn’t sure what he wanted in life, but this repetition he was stuck in was not it. He wanted to go around the world, explore everything. Well, not everything, but a lot of places. He wasn’t sure where he wanted to go, or if there was even a specific place.

No, there wasn’t one specific place, a constant desire to visit somewhere.

There was only one constant thing that Lawrence wanted in his life: Adam. Ever since that day they met five years prior, that man was all Lawrence could think about. He popped into his head every day since he left him in that bathroom. It was like Adam came into his life, shook it up, and made him want different things, some of which Lawrence would had never dreamed of himself wanting to be a part of. But that’s how life was sometimes. And he wanted to keep Adam’s constant, inconsistency, close.

Adam was supposed to meet him there twenty minutes ago, but Lawrence wasn’t surprised the young man wasn’t there yet. Maybe he should have suggested an earlier time. He always ran late, for everything, no matter how much time Lawrence planned in advance. There was no changing that man.

Once again, he sighed as he sat there alone on the bench, waiting for his companion. Lawrence looked up as a cardinal flew overhead, tweeting a soft melody as it passed. Lawrence shifted, leaning back more against the bench, content. But contentment wasn’t what he was exactly looking for.

Maybe it was time to change. Sure, he had already changed so much in the five years since John put him through his Jigsaw test, but there was always room for improvement. Lawrence could always make himself a different man. Better? He wasn’t sure if he needed to become a better man, but he knew he could change his life. He could do it so quickly, effortlessly, even. All he needed was for Adam to get there, and they could discuss their future plans, no matter where it brought them.

Fifteen more minutes passed, and Lawrence’s patience was beginning to wear thin. He looked at his watch. Thirty-five minutes late. He shook his head slightly, looking down the sidewalk to see if Adam was there. Finally, he saw the younger man walking down the sidewalk toward him.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Adam apologized, sitting down right next to Lawrence, their sides touching. Lawrence just nodded a little. “Come on, Larry. Don’t be mad at me. I was with Hoffman and Adelaide. They wanted my input for the next game. I’m sorry.” Adam took the older man’s hand in both of his. “Don’t be mad that I’m late. I’m sorry.” He nuzzled his head against Lawrence’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

This was when Lawrence finally squeezed Adam’s hand. “It’s okay, Adam,” he replied, making the young man smile at him after raising his head to look at him. It also earned him a peck on the cheek. “How do you feel about these games, Adam? Are you okay with doing them, or would you rather be doing something else?”

Adam’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Would you rather be off, doing something else, far away from here? Remember the painting?”

“Larry, what are you talking about? And yes, I remember the painting. The lake house. I would love to go to a lake house. Wait. What are you saying? You wanna leave?”

“I just, I’m just not entirely sure about this anymore, Adam. I was never quite sure to begin with, but now, things have just progressed, and I’m not sure how much longer we can keep getting away with doing this. Hoffman was already basically caught. Logan was a suspect, but he got away, just barely, though. And Adelaide isn’t exactly in the public’s eye or anything. But we never know how much longer we’ll be able to keep doing this. And I don’t want anything to happen to you, ever.”

Adam stared at Lawrence in silence for a moment. “Are you sure they’re going to just let us walk, after all this shit we know about everything?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe. After all, I’ve done all the things that was asked of me. Adelaide might not like me leaving, and Hoffman might be angry about it, but I doubt Logan will. He was there longer than either of those two, than any of us.” Lawrence paused. “So does this mean you want to go with me?”

“Well, obviously, Larry.” Another light kiss on his cheek. “I’ve wanted to be with you for the past five years, but only got these past few months. I’ll go wherever you wanna go, baby.”

Lawrence couldn’t help but smile at this. He wasn’t surprised by Adam’s reaction to leaving, not exactly. But there was some wariness in Lawrence. Adam had been almost forced into the Jigsaw world. But he had done it to be with Lawrence. And Lawrence had done it for Adam. He was relieved the young man wanted to go with him. It was going to be great, being away with Adam. He was all Lawrence needed. He was the only constant in his life.

 

 

“What do you mean, goodbye?” Adelaide demanded. Hoffman was standing with his arms crossed. Logan was sitting on one of the stools, leaning back against the tall table, and Adam was standing next to Lawrence, holding his arm. Logan was okay with them leaving. Hoffman didn’t really say anything. He looked annoyed more than anything. Over what? Lawrence wasn’t sure.

“We’re leaving,” Lawrence repeated.

“What does that mean? You can’t just leave, can you?” She turned her direction toward Logan. “Can they?”

“John wanted him to help complete the last tests,” Logan responded as he placed his cell phone on the table next to where he was leaning. “And that was it. So yes, he can just leave. Both of them can. I don’t want to keep him here, either of them, if that isn’t what they want.”

“Let them go,” Hoffman said nonchalantly, waving his hand. “We won’t have to deal with Stanheight anymore.”

“I have two last names, Hoffman!” Adam snapped back. “I don’t get why you’re this way, you know? I can’t wait until we’re gone and I won’t have to see your stupid ass face anymore. I’m totally done with all your shit, and I sincerely hope we never see one another again.” He turned his attention toward Adelaide and Logan. “But you two, you’re fine. I’m fine with seeing either of you again.”

“Thanks, Adam,” Logan said, standing up from his seat. “For everything. You as well, Lawrence. Even though you’re done with all this, and have been for a while, you definitely made a difference in the world with your work.”

“Thank you, Logan,” Lawrence replied, shaking the man’s outstretched hand. Hoffman didn’t move from his spot, and neither did Lawrence as Logan and Adam hugged. A formal goodbye probably wasn’t going to happen between the two men. Adelaide on the other hand walked over to the older man, her mentor, and hugged him.

“I’m glad that you gave me a purpose in life, Lawrence,” the young woman said. Lawrence smiled at her. That was one good thing that came from all of this: he actually managed to help certain people.

“Of course, Adelaide. I’m glad that I was able to help.” Adelaide and Adam hugged after that. Those two had gotten closer, despite Hoffman’s attitude toward Adam.

“Hoffman,” Adam said. Lawrence looked at him. He hoped he wasn’t going to try to hug him. Hoffman was not the hugging type. Not that Lawrence had found out; he just seemed the type not to enjoy hugs. Adam pulled Lawrence along with him, toward the other man.

“I don’t want a hug,” Hoffman said, shifting back slightly and uncrossing his arms. “You better not hug me, Stanheight.”

“You think I’m gonna give you a hug?” Adam laughed. It was actually more of a cackle, to be honest. “No. Bye, bitch. See ya never.”

And that was that.

Lawrence and Adam walked out of the compound and over to their new car, a silver Lexus RX3501. The two men got inside and Lawrence started the car.

“So where exactly are we going, Larry?” Adam asked, leaning back in the seat, reaching for Lawrence’s hand. The older man held his younger boyfriend’s hand.

Lawrence turned right onto the street, driving toward the highway. “Wherever we want, Adam. We’re free.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished this story. I'm sorry it took so long to update it. I wanted to keep going with it, but I couldn't find the motivation to continue on with it. I also didn't want to leave it without giving it an actual ending. So I'm sorry it's shorter than the other ones, but I wanted it to end, sort of. I couldn't keep writing and I didn't want to keep people's hopes up that there would be more coming, when honestly, there wasn't.
> 
> Of course I loved this story, and I always will. It's one of the longest ones I've ever written, and it's the longest I've ever published. I really appreciate all of the people who have read it so far, and will hopefully read and enjoy it in the future. 
> 
> My final thoughts were that the games continued with Hoffman, Logan, and Adelaide. And maybe bringing in the new girl from Jigsaw, Eleanor Bonneville. And Lawrence and Adam continued on with their relationship, traveling through the United States, and most likely Europe. Maybe they got married? I don't know.
> 
> I also don't know if I'll make a second part to it. I thought maybe I would, bring Adam and Lawrence back in because Diana and Alison got killed and Lawrence wanted to find their killer and put him through something. But I'm not sure about that, so don't count on it!
> 
> But I really did enjoy writing and sharing this story with all the people who read, liked, or commented on it. And once again, sorry it took so long!
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Adam shouldn't have died in the movie, and I saw that Hoffman could have possibly survived. Of course this is all just fiction and I don't actually know what happens to any of the characters. But this is mine, so I decided to let people live. I made up Adelaide, and I don't know if I'll give her any more background. She'll be included in the other chapter(s) that I'm going to make. Thanks for reading!


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